


Sunlight

by DeadlyGlacier



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, NSFW, freaky alien sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:48:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 21,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26318212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadlyGlacier/pseuds/DeadlyGlacier
Summary: Garrus, still somewhat new to the Normandy crew, goes up to visit Shepard one night and have a talk.  He ends up getting more than he bargained for.TRIGGER WARNING FOR A SMALL PART IN SECOND CHAPTER!!NSFW.  Slight AU.Universe:  Save Game 2.  Colonist, Sole Survivor, Sentinel.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian
Comments: 22
Kudos: 104





	1. Part I

_So how about a new Mass Effect story in a different universe, eh?_

_Save Game 2. Colonist, Sole Survivor, Sentinel._

**G G G G G G G G**

Garrus fidgeted as he sat on his cot behind the Mako—he found he could use it like his own privacy wall from Wrex and Chief Williams. It felt necessary today because he was so troubled and didn’t want to draw any attention to himself. Troubled was the wrong word though… Anxious, perhaps?

He wanted to speak with Shepard. But she had already made her rounds, it appeared, so he would have to go up to her cabin. He had never done that before. Would it look strange? Was he _allowed?_ (Some of the humans on the ship seemed apprehensive toward him and the other non-humans aboard the Normandy.) That’s ridiculous, of course he was allowed. He was being silly.

The other part was that he was _nervous._ Something he rarely felt—almost never when he genuinely wanted to speak with one of his commanding officers. It was likely that, despite only knowing her a short time, Garrus’ respect for her had grown considerably (especially after today)—therefore his nerves drew from that.

But Garrus also thought another part of his anxiety came from the fact that their one-on-one conversations hadn’t gone too well since he’d joined her crew. He felt he’d given her the wrong impression of himself, that he was insubordinate and too rash.

Finally, he shook his head at himself and stood, defying all the silly fears in his head. He made himself ride the elevator and walk right up to her door, ignoring some of the surprised looks he got (one from Lieutenant Alenko in particular).

He tapped a talon on the door alert, a gentle _ping_ sounding from within the cabin.

“Come in,” he heard her answer, so he did.

The door _whooshed_ shut behind him, “Commander, I—oh…”

Garrus had never seen a human woman with such long hair before—nor any with such a beautiful golden color. Shepard usually kept it up in a kind of elegant knot at the back of her head, but to see it loose and free and wild, like liquid sunshine…

He cleared his throat, “Commander, I hope this isn’t a bad time. I just wanted to speak with you for a moment.” She was seated at her desk, letting her long yellow tresses tumble over the chair’s back. It was mostly straight, but towards the ends it had a subtle wave that really brought out its different tones. She’d been brushing it when he came in, and it looked soft as feathers. She turned her face to greet him, the light of her cabin catching the shiny gloss on her lips as they turned upward into a smile. Her eyes were a bright golden color, and they had a surprisingly soft sweetness to them for a woman capable of biotically throwing a krogan with a force of 800 newtons.

“Garrus,” she greeted warmly, standing. “Do you want to sit, or…?” She trailed off.

“Oh, no,” he said, putting his hands up. “I don’t want to impose, I just—”

“Not at all, please,” she offered, gesturing to the couch. She sat herself at the chair just near it and waited expectantly. Garrus opened his mouth to protest again, but quickly decided against it and took his seat.

He took a breath and just said it outright: “I just wanted to tell you I liked being part of your ground team on the Citadel today. Seeing the way you handled that Admiral after his inspection, and that awful reporter as well, I really appreciated what you told both of them. I… I wanted you to know. And… thank you.”

She looked genuinely surprised, her mouth even forming a slight ‘o’ for a moment. “Oh, wow. Well, thank you, Garrus.”

“I know I’ve been difficult,” he added quickly.

Now she looked confused, “Not at all. Why do you say that?”

Garrus cleared his throat again, “Some of our talks down in the cargo bay haven’t gone as I would have intended. I just don’t want you to think of me as some hot-head.”

She shook her head at him, “No, I think you’re passionate. I like that about you; it’s important to me that the people I work with are passionate—it’s one of the reasons I decided to become an Alliance marine.”

“Oh,” he said, relieved. “Good.”

Shepard smiled, “And the only reason I’ve gotten _passionate_ with you in our conversations is because I know you want to do the right thing _because_ it’s the right thing, not for glory—”

“It’s _a little bit_ for glory,” Garrus half-joked.

She gave a slight laugh, “That may be… but while you want to do the right thing, I don’t want to see that become what blinds you. I know we haven’t known each other a long time, but from what I can tell it’s your greatest strength—that drive—but don’t let it corrupt your sense of what is _wrong_.”

That puzzled him. “What do you mean?” he asked inquisitively, sitting back on the couch.

She tilted her head with a thoughtful smile, her eyes drifting away from his, “In my experience, when a passionate person has a goal in mind, they won’t stop until it’s accomplished… And sometimes that unstoppable drive crosses over into desperation, and that’s when problems arise. I’ve seen it happen with other officers in the Alliance: they get too wrapped up in their heads that they don’t see how reckless they’ve become, how they shut out people that only want to help, or how they gradually become the worst version of themselves.” She sighed sadly, looking at the floor, “It’s such an easy, thin line to cross.”

At this, Garrus became pensive. After a long moment he finally said, “I’ll keep that in mind, Commander. Thank you.”

She nodded, “Anytime, Garrus. Wanna drink?” She gestured over to a small bar by her desk with various bottles and glassware.

He perked up, clearing his throat before answering. “Do you have turian alcohol?” he asked, surprised and curious.

“Of course! I have some options for you,” she said as she got up and walked over, gathering items on a tray. “I have liquors to accommodate all of my crew, human and alien alike. I made sure to pick some up before we left the Citadel the first time.”

“You got some for all of us?” He was genuinely touched by this, and not a single one of the other non-human crew knew she did such a thing.

“Yeah, I went to a place that had alcohol from all over the Milky Way. For Tali, I found some ultra-filtered, dextro-safe vodka. For Wrex, they told me ryncol is pretty much all krogans drink on Tuchanka, so I got plenty of that. When we met Liara, I had them ship us some fancy Thessian wines. And as for _you_ …” she trailed off as she turned and set the tray on the low table in front of the couch. Garrus moved and sat beside her, observing the bottles on the tray eagerly. He recognized one of them, and he gaped at it in surprise.

 _“Legacy,”_ he breathed in disbelief. Garrus reached out and held the tall, heavy flask of turian brandy, admiring it with a shake of his head, “I always wanted to try this, but never thought I’d be able.” He looked over at her, impressed, “You mean business, Shepard.”

“I like to think so,” she said, getting out a glass and then opening the bottle for him. As she poured a hefty amount, she said, “So tell me about C-Sec. I’m sure you’ve got all kinds of stories.”

Garrus gave a sarcastic laugh, “Oh yes… some good, some bad. Some really bad…” Shepard handed him the glass and he gave her a grateful nod.

“Well,” she said, pouring herself a glass of clear human alcohol, “should we start with the good and get to the bad, or start with the bad and finish with the good?”

Garrus tilted his head, considering. “Finish with the good,” he answered. He held up his glass, “The good stories only get better when you’re drunk.”

Shepard laughed, clinking her glass with his, “Cheers to that.”

“And to _passion.”_

“To passion,” she agreed with a soft smile. They touched their glasses together again. Shepard relaxed into the couch, “Talk to me, Garrus.”

And he did. Garrus couldn’t recall a time where he spoke so much. He wasn’t a shy person by any means, but he’d never been one to ramble on and on, about himself no less. She was remarkably easy to talk to, and she asked questions that made him think. She was also curious, having never personally worked with aliens before, so he told her as much as he could about turians—and she reciprocated, allowing him all the blunt questions he could ask about humans and their culture.

They kept the drinks flowing as well. Shepard started drinking something called an “Old Fashioned,” but after the second one she was just drinking the amber-colored alcohol with a little ice. She kept up with him, and they challenged each other to shots… which turned out to be the last thing he remembered.

He stirred in the early hours of the morning to a headache that made his eyes water. Blinking and stretching, Garrus took in his surroundings. He was laying down somewhere soft, a blanket haphazardly thrown over his legs. Upon sitting on his elbows, he saw that he was still in the Commander’s quarters… and completely naked.

His eyes widened, and he made a soft gasp as he frantically looked about the room for answers. He saw their glasses from last night, their empty bottles. Then he noted his clothes in a wrinkly pile on the floor, as well as his armor that was discarded near it. “Oh no,” he said aloud, shutting his eyes in embarrassment. _I must have made an absolute fool of myself. She probably had to spend the night in the Mako just to avoid—_

Just then he felt a stirring beside him in the bed, and that’s when he finally saw.

Shepard’s back was to him, but it was bare, the blanket draped over the lower part of her hip. Garrus just gaped at the sight. He was in shock, sure, but her evenly tanned skin looked so strangely smooth compared to his—it even appeared to glow a soft gold from within, as well as her beautiful, shiny mane of blonde hair. _I think that’s what humans call it… ‘blonde.’_

He caught himself, and shook his head. He made himself focus. Garrus wondered if he should wake her, or if he should try to quietly get dressed and leave… Neither felt right, and his head was aching horribly. At that thought, he brought up his omni-tool and distributed medicines from a custom list he’d stored for a bad hangover. _Haven’t used that setting in a long time._ Garrus sighed, concentrating as he tried to remember. He closed his eyes, thinking back to the last thing he could recall, but he only got flashes of their laughter, and he _thought_ he could remember carrying her at one point, her legs wrapped around his waist… but they were both clothed. More flashes of her hair and the heat of her skin on his hands. Garrus looked down at them as if the sight of them would jog his memory. He could vaguely remember his name coming from her glossy lips in a warm, quiet breath…

He jolted when Shepard stirred again, stretching as she rolled onto her back. She pulled the blankets up to warm her exposed body, and then he saw her grimace in pain. _“Ugh,_ god,” she moaned weakly as a hand went to her face. Garrus panicked as she opened her eyes, and not knowing what else to do, he decided to speak first.

“Uh, Commander… good morning.”

She nearly screamed, but she caught herself quickly. She immediately made to cover herself completely, making sure her nakedness was hidden from him. “Sorry,” she breathed heavily, her chest rising and falling as she took in the situation. “Just didn’t expect anyone to be… in my bed, here.” Shepard looked dazed and utterly confused. “Did we…?” She tried to sit up, and then a sudden awareness came over her, apparently having felt something under the sheet, “Oh we did…”

Garrus cleared his throat awkwardly, “Oh?”

“Yep,” she said with a nod, wincing a little as she scooted to a sitting position beside him, “for sure.” She still held the blankets to her chest. Suddenly, she conjured her omni-tool and scanned the two of them. “Just making sure we’re not going to have allergic reactions. Do you have a levo-antihistamine in your omni-tool’s med pack? You may want to take it just in case.” Shepard was a sentinel, and she was serious about emergency medicine. He remembered last night she told him she started out as a medic before rising in the ranks of the Alliance. “If not, I’d recommend you get one from Dr. Chakwas right away. It seems I’ll have to get one, too.”

He nodded, “I will. I just took my hangover regimen, so hopefully this headache will go away soon. Not so sure about the nausea, though.”

“’Hangover regimen?’” she asked curiously, giving him a confused look.

“Yeah, back when I served in the military I was pretty… rowdy with my fellow soldiers. We’d go out for drinks together often, so I put together my own collection of medicines to fight a hangover on my omni-tool to use whenever I had one. Stuff like mild pain relievers, vitamins for energy and alertness… that kind of thing.” Garrus shrugged. “It helps, but the nausea medicine doesn’t always work for me—especially if the hangover is really bad, which…” he brought a hand to his face, closing his eyes, “this one is… strong.”

“Hm,” Shepard murmured thoughtfully, impressed, “that’s a pretty smart idea. I hadn’t thought about doing something like that for hangovers.” He felt her hand touch his shoulder, “I didn’t see any adverse reactions in the scan, but you should go see Dr. Chakwas for that antihistamine soon. I don’t want one of my best soldiers going into anaphylactic shock and be out of commission.” She gave him a playful nudge.

Garrus gave a sarcastic laugh, “Don’t you go flattering me, Commander. I guarantee that’s what got us into this mess.” He stretched and got out of bed to search for his clothes.

**S S S S S S S S**

_I_ **_cannot_ ** _believe I’ve done this,_ Shepard thought to herself when Garrus got out of her bed. _‘We,’ I should say—but it’s not like_ **_he’s_ ** _the one that brought out all the damn liquor._ It shocked her that not only had she had a blackout one night stand, but a blackout one night stand with _another species._ Not that she was racist or anything, but she’d always thought if she were going to have an encounter like this—she’d fucking _remember it!_ There were all kinds of safety precautions inter-species couples needed to take before they had sex, but the two of them had apparently just breezed past them in a drunken frenzy.

She mentally kicked herself. Now things were going to be so _awkward_ between them. Garrus was probably her favorite person to talk to on the ship since she’d been given command of the Normandy, and now she’d gone and ruined their professional relationship. It made her sad to think he might not be comfortable around her anymore, especially considering the first half of their night had gone so well. He opened up to her, and she with him. She shared things about herself and her life that she hadn’t shared with anyone, maybe ever. She’d told him about her _family_ —and she never did that. It was common knowledge among her fellow soldiers that she’d been rescued from Mindoir at sixteen and then raised by the Alliance, but she never spoke about that day, nor had anyone ever asked her about it.

Garrus cleared his throat loudly, and she quickly snapped out of her thoughts. “I’m sorry—I was just thinking,” she said, running a hand through her hair (and felt all kinds of knots and frizziness from the pillows, and _other_ activities) while the other made sure to keep the blankets secure over her chest. _My hair is a tangled, absolute_ **_mess_ ** _. I must look like a crazy person._

“I, ah, was wondering how you wanted to approach this…” he trailed off awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. He still hadn’t put his armor back on, but he was wearing the pants of his undersuit.

Shepard sniffed, blinking tiredly, “What do you mean?”

He shifted his weight, looking to the ground a moment before meeting her eyes again, “Do you… want to act like… like it never happened, or…?”

Her mouth gaped open, but she shut it quickly. “Oh… no. Not at all,” she replied. “This cabin is soundproof, so it isn’t likely anyone _heard_ us—if we were loud.” At that, her face reddened. She went on, “The crew might start some rumors once they see you leaving, but if anyone tries to say anything rude to you, let me know. I’ll deal with them. We can, um, talk about it later—if you want.”

Garrus nodded, and then he asked, “Do you… remember anything from last night? I only get flashes here and there.”

Shepard paused to think. She remembered telling him about some kind of human custom he’d asked about—Christmas, maybe? And then… there was a sensation, something related to how sore she felt between her legs, but a good kind of sore that made her bite her lip when she thought about it. Her face reddened deeper. “Same as you,” she said, clearing her throat. She chewed at her bottom lip, not meeting his eyes. “Yeah, only a few flashes… I… I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Garrus asked, looking taken aback.

She shook her head, wrapping her arms around herself, feeling the cold on her skin now, “It’s just… I haven’t—I haven’t done anything like this in… I don’t even know how long. I’ve never even been with anyone besides humans—”

“Ah, well it may be some consolation that I share that fact with you… but with turian women,” he said with a slight shrug. “And there’s no reason to apologize. I’m just as responsible as you are.” He went over to the coffee table and picked up his targeter, securing it to his head. Garrus was fully dressed now, and apparently ready to brave the sight of the crew. “I’m off to see Dr. Chakwas, then… We can, ah, talk later if we start… remembering things…”

“Of course, Garrus,” she reassured him. “I’ll see you around. I think we’ll just do some more exploring and mineral collecting today—nothing too taxing.” She put a hand to her aching forehead, “It’s probably all I can handle right now, considering how I’m—how _we’re_ feeling.”

Garrus gave a short, agreeable laugh, and then bowed before leaving. Shepard fell back onto the bed and covered her face with her hands. _God, I am_ **_such_ ** _an idiot._

**G G G G G G G G**

_Did I just… Did I_ **_bow_ ** _just now?_ Garrus thought to himself as he strolled over to the med bay. _Spirits… I’m losing my mind here._ When he stepped into the mess hall, he could feel a few eyes on him and he looked around—but anyone looking his way quickly averted their eyes, everyone except for Alenko. Garrus looked over at him in his usual corner, and greeted him with a silent nod. The man was gaping at him in shock, his eyes going from Garrus to the door he just came from. The question (or demand, depending on how one would interpret his expression) was apparent in his eyes, but it seemed he was refusing to let himself utter it out loud, and he let Garrus cross the room without a fuss—but Garrus could feel his eyes on him the whole way to the med bay.

The doors hissed open and he saw Dr. Chakwas immediately—he could also partially see Liara in the next room over, working on something at her computer. Garrus walked over to the doctor, clearing his throat, “Ah, Dr. Chakwas—how are you this morning?”

The doctor turned from her work and looked at Garrus cheerfully, “I’m quite well, Garrus. How are you?”

“Very well,” he answered with a nod, and put his hands behind his back. “I, ah… I was wondering if you could—” he lowered his voice, “if you could administer a levo-antihistamine shot on me?”

She immediately went to a cabinet nearby, “Oh dear… did you ingest some human food by accident?” She found a syringe and a bottle of the antihistamine, bringing it over.

Garrus cleared his throat again, awkwardly, “Ah… no. Nothing like that.”

“Then why would—Oh!” the realization hit her, “I see. I had wondered if the rumors circulating last night had any truth to them…”

Garrus sank, sighing, “Oh dear…”

She waved a hand, coming over to remove one of his gloves and arm braces, “Please—don’t let any of them bother you. It’s high time the Commander had a bit of fun—and I imagine it is for you as well, Garrus.” She cleaned a spot on his forearm, preparing for the needle.

He chuckled, watching her, “What was your first clue?”

She joined him in his laughter, filling the syringe, “Anyone looking to come aboard this ship is looking for something new—that, and someone like _you_ leaving the job security of C-Sec?” She gave him a look, shaking her head, “That’s someone who’s looking for bigger and better horizons—and that’s _C-Sec’s_ loss.”

He watched her gently press the needle and inject the medicine, “What do you mean ‘someone like me’?”

“Someone dedicated and loyal—C-Sec made a mistake disappointing you, Garrus,” she told him matter-of-factly, pressing a bit of cotton against the spot on his arm.

Garrus chuckled again, “I doubt they see it that way. I’m pretty sure they threw a party once I was gone.”

But Chakwas was shaking her head again, “All the more their loss. They’ll see it when you make waves someday.” She disposed of the syringe and slid his armor back over to him, leaning against the counter. “You and Shepard both. You remind me a lot of her.”

At that Garrus gave her a grateful nod, “Thank you. I truly appreciate that, doctor.”

“I’ve been around soldiers all my life, Garrus. I know which ones are going to be the best of the best, and that not only includes you and Shepard, but the others she’s brought to us on the Normandy—so don’t any of you feel like you don’t belong, or don’t deserve to be here, do you understand me?”

“Yes ma’am,” he answered, nodding again. “Thank you. Again.”

“Anytime. Let me know if you need your own supply of levo-antihistamine pills—it’s better to take those precautions _before_ rather than after, in my experience,” she advised.

“In _your_ experience?” Garrus asked humorously with a somewhat surprised look. He fastened his arm brace back on and slid his glove over his talons.

Dr. Chakwas looked right back at him, “Now, now—a lady doesn’t kiss and tell, Garrus.”

**S S S S S S S S**

Shepard sighed pleasantly as she ducked under the stream of steaming hot water, letting it run over her face, down her neck, and over her chest and back. The heat felt good to her. It became apparent the moment she got out of bed and took one step to her private bathroom that she was quite sore—more so between her thighs, but there was some in her neck and shoulders too. _What the hell did we_ **_do_ ** _?_ she’d thought to herself.

Not only was there the soreness, but there was the stickiness on her thighs (and still inside her) that had initially tipped her off about what they’d done last night. She used her omni-tool to clean and sanitize the sheets of whatever evidence remained in the bed, and then went to start her shower.

She’d always loved getting clean—the feel of fragrant soap suds on her skin, the steam rising around her, and the water coming down in a heavy torrent. She never wanted to leave the shower when she was younger, and had a fascination with water in general as she was growing up. It seemed so beautiful to her.

Closing her eyes, she let the stream of hot water rush over her face again, trying to remember anything about last night. From what she could tell from the ache between her legs this morning… Garrus was _big_ —and possibly textured, if her memory was to be trusted. That didn’t really surprise her—Garrus already towered over her in general, so whatever he had going on was bound to be impressive. The idea of him picking her up and letting her hang off of him made her grin to herself. She’d been short her whole life, but even before the Alliance she never let that get in the way of anything she wanted, including romantic partners. Even though she was shorter than a lot of other taller, slender women back on Mindoir as a teen, as well as in the Alliance, Shepard still had her own “assets” to win the favor of those she had pursued in the past. She was curvy, with wide hips and a slim waist—not to mention her impressively buxom breasts. She had to wear a special kind of sports bra to keep them strapped in when she was wearing Alliance regs (which was pretty much all the time) and to even fit into her armor. She had no idea if any of that appealed to Garrus, a turian, however—but it couldn’t hurt.

_(Author’s Note: Translation—this universe’s Shepard is thiccc. Three C’s worth.)_

Despite all the awkwardness when they woke up, she found herself wondering if they could try it again— _without_ getting drunk. The thought haunted her all throughout her shower, and as she got dressed, and also as she fixed her hair and did her makeup. Shepard had no idea how to even bring that thought up with Garrus after the way they left things, although even that wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

She’d be lying if she claimed she’d never thought about an interspecies encounter in her youth, having seen a vast array of pornography on the extranet on that very topic (although curiously, not any human-turian vids—she just hadn’t gotten around to that). But now that she was older and in a higher, more respected position in the Alliance, she knew her superiors might not look on frivolous flings with other species too fondly.

Not that she wanted whatever happened with Garrus to be frivolous—she liked him. That’s why she wanted to try it again with him, if he wanted to. Hopefully he wanted to. Maybe it was a stupid idea… _Dammit, the man has me running in circles in my head!_

Sighing, Shepard got up from her seat, giving her appearance one last look before exiting her quarters to see Dr. Chakwas.

**G G G G G G G G**

Garrus went to shower right after he saw Dr. Chakwas. He knew krogan had sensitive noses, and didn’t want Wrex pestering him about his night with Shepard. That would likely happen anyway, however, as rumors had certainly spread about the ship from the looks he got from the human crew, so Wrex probably already knew. To his relief, no one approached him about it, and the looks weren’t of disgust or repulsion—they were more looks of surprise, and some even seemed impressed. Despite that, Garrus acted as if he didn’t notice when he finally made his way to the elevator, and never looked anyone directly in the eye.

When the elevator door slid open to reveal the shuttle bay, Wrex was standing by the Mako, near the terminal where Garrus usually stationed himself. He sighed to himself, _Here we go…_

“So,” Wrex began with a humorous ring to his voice, “rough night?”

“Wrex, don’t.”

The krogan ignored him, leaning against the terminal, “I’m only asking because you look like you were chewed up and spat out by a thresher maw.”

Garrus paused, there was something about thresher maws that reminded him of last night. They had talked about them, or something. He couldn’t quite grasp it, but his eyes shifted to the Mako itself. He was staring off into space, trying to remember what she’d said—because not only did it involve thresher maws, but it was about the Mako, too—and it was important, he felt.

“Uh, Garrus? You still there, kid?” 

Wrex’s prodding brought him back to the present, and he shook his head, “Yeah. Sorry. I just had a lot to drink last night. I was trying to remember…”

“Oh yeah? She had some fancy turian brandy for you up there?”

Garrus looked at him, giving a curt nod, “As a matter of fact, yes. She’s got all manner of refreshments for her non-human crew in her cabin, if we ever need to have a private chat with her. She’s got ryncol.”

Wrex grunted, “Well, I’d have spent all night up there too if I’d known that.”

“You wouldn’t have made it last the whole night,” he said bluntly, and then quickly regretted it. _I’m speaking to a_ **_krogan_ ** _—I should have better sense than to provoke him!_ His hangover was clearly making him extra snarky today.

But to his surprise, Wrex laughed heartily, “You still talking about the ryncol, kid?”

Garrus felt his neck darken in a flush, and quickly busied himself with the terminal, pulling up the diagnostic controls. “Of course,” he said casually, trying to play it off. Wrex just scoffed indifferently and walked off to leave Garrus in his thoughts. He was still trying to remember what the connection was between the Mako and thresher maws and Shepard, and then suddenly, it came to him…

_“Shepard, may I ask you something—and please don’t think I’m trying to criticize you—it’s just something I’ve been wondering since I joined,” Garrus asked, taking a generous sip of his drink._

_Shepard flipped her golden hair over her shoulder, leaning against the back of the couch, her feet curled up underneath her on the cushion, “Ask away.” She eyed him with mock suspicion over her glass, but then smiled._

_Garrus took a breath and became thoughtful, “It’s just… when we’re riding in the Mako—and you’re driving—oftentimes there’s perfectly good flat ground to drive on, plenty of it, yet you choose to ride the side of craters and hills as much as possible. I’ve seen you fight, and I know for a fact there’s nothing wrong with your eyesight, but you seem to actively avoid the flat ground as much as possible. Why is that?”_

_Shepard looked away from him, lowering her glass to her lap. “I… It’s—”_

_“If I’ve overstepped, please forget I asked,” he added quickly, putting up a panicked hand. She looked so sad all of a sudden._

_“No, it’s just—” she cleared her throat, “it’s just that I don’t usually talk about this…” She looked up at him, “Back before I served on this ship, I was part of a unit of marines sent to investigate Akuze. It was still in the early stages of being colonized when all contact with the pioneer team was lost.”_

_Garrus nodded, “I’d heard that… something happened out there. You don’t have to go on if it’s too much.”_

_She shook her head, “No, you shared with me, I should share with you. Besides, I had to tell this story to a lot of people after it happened, I should be used to it by now—I just haven’t spoken about it to anyone besides higher-ranking officers in the Alliance.” She took a breath and then continued, “When we got there, we found the settlement intact, but no survivors. It looked like everyone had just walked away. But we decided to spend the night anyway, to see if maybe anyone would turn up. And then…” She bit her lip, shaking her head, “It happened so fast, nobody knew what to do. Thresher maws—a whole pack of them—came roaring and spitting out of the ground. The marines who were on watch duty were the quickest to go—I’d just been relieved and was asleep in one of the shelters nearby. I woke to gunfire and screaming. When I went outside, I tried to fire at the threshers, tried to get them away from my unit, but by then it was too late. I… I started firing at a couple of soldiers who were being eaten—I just wanted to end their suffering. I wanted them to stop screaming. I made a run towards the landing zone—someone had set off a distress beacon in all the chaos—and so I ran. On my way, I saw my fellow soldiers… some were chewed in half, their skin bubbling from the acidic venom. Some of them reached for me, begging me… But I left them. They were beyond helping.” Shepard looked up at Garrus sadly, “I was the only one who made it out. One of fifty men and women.”_

_He sat back against the cushion, letting out a breath he’d been holding, “Spirits…”_

_Shepard went on, “After that, I obsessively researched thresher maws, trying to learn as much about them as I could—what they ate, where they lived, where they came from. I was surprised to find out that their origin isn’t known and that their spores can lie dormant for millennia and survive in all kinds of environments—or lack thereof.” Her eyes turned thoughtful, recalling all the facts she knew, “They prefer to live alone—which was odd when I took into account how we were attacked, because I distinctly remember at least three that night—and they’ll eat just about anything, but mainly survive on solar radiation. They can move extraordinarily fast when underground, and prefer to build their nests and tunnels under wide, flat areas that receive the most light.” She looked back at Garrus, “So, I avoid driving over flat surfaces as much as possible, because more than likely a thresher is living under there.” She sighed, “And I know the Mako is more than capable of taking one on, but a couple well-placed hits with their acid, and it’s over.”_

_Garrus nodded, “I understand. You’re trying to protect us.”_

_“Yeah,” she said, taking a sip from her glass. “Thank you. I know it’s not a fun ride when I’m driving. Ash has complained more than once about it.”_

_He waved a hand, “She just needs to take some anti-nausea medicine. She’ll get over it.” Garrus looked over at her, “Thank you for sharing that with me. I… I know that’s probably not easy to talk about.”_

_“It isn’t,” Shepard agreed, “and I haven’t told many people about it.” She shifted in her seat, pensive, “People in the Alliance tend to not speak to me anyway—I’m kind of an outlier. I don’t know if you’ve noticed that or not, and it’s not just because of Akuze.”_

_“I haven’t seen anything, but then again I’m always in the shuttle bay with Wrex. Chief Williams and the requisitions officer down there keep to themselves mostly,” he told her, shrugging. “You think they avoid you on purpose?”_

_She sighed, still pondering, “I’m not sure. I was already whispered about when I first joined the Alliance, because of what happened on Mindoir, the colony where I grew up. Batarian slavers attacked us one day, and they killed almost the entire colony. My family included.” She shook her head, letting out a short, bitter laugh, “Twice I was a survivor.” She cleared her throat, taking a deep breath and running her fingers through her hair, “Anyway, after Akuze, people started calling me the Ghost—never to my face, mind you, but I could always hear it in the whispers of people I walked past. I didn’t really care, and I even leaned into the name in my own way. I started only wearing white armor, and I distanced myself from social events. I always did my duty as a marine, though. I’ve always done what’s been asked of me, and that’s what’s gotten me respect from my fellow soldiers and commanding officers, despite the stares and whispers…” Her voice trailed off and she looked at him, embarrassed, “Sorry—I’m rambling.”_

_Garrus shook his head, “Not at all. I appreciate you trusting me with your story, Commander.”_

_“Sasha,” she said, smiling over at him. “Please—I think we’re past titles after all that. Just in here, though,” she added, pointing at him with the same hand holding her glass._

_Garrus nodded, “Of course… Sasha.”_

_Her eyes drifted to the table of liquor, then back at him, “Sooo… shots?”_

Garrus paused mid-stroke to the terminal in front of him. He remembered feeling struck when she’d told him about her family. Many years ago, Mindoir was all over the news after the batarians had attacked it, and even though he was fairly young at the time, Garrus still understood how devastating it must have been for the humans. After being so new to the galaxy’s fold, to be attacked out of the blue like that—as well as being people who hadn’t done anything wrong—it was a travesty. In fact, it was one of the major factors behind Garrus’ philosophy of all the races coming together to prevent such an attack from ever happening again. If everyone were more willing to work with each other, rather than get tied up in politics, the galaxy would be in a much better place to defend itself. And Shepard knew that, too.

No…

 _Sasha._ Sasha knew that, too.

 _Hm,_ he thought, continuing his work on the terminal, _that’s a pretty name. Sasha._

**S S S S S S S S**

Before Shepard could even say anything, she could see Dr. Chakwas had already gathered the supplies necessary to administer a dextro-antihistamine shot, and she immediately began preparing the syringe when she saw Shepard. A knowing smile spread across the doctor’s face when the door _whooshed_ shut.

“Have a nice night, Commander?” Chakwas asked, giving the syringe a little flick to get rid of any air bubbles inside it.

Her face reddened, and she cleared her throat, “From what I can remember, yes.” Shepard offered her arm to Chakwas, and she cleaned the area with a swab of alcohol.

“Hm,” the doctor muttered, “I’ll give you some other medication to help with a hangover—that might help your memory recover.”

Shepard nodded as she watched the needle go in, “I appreciate that. Garrus already had a hangover regimen loaded into his omni-tool.”

“That’s smart,” Chakwas said, impressed. “You should do the same. I can give you a list of what to supply your med output with—I should have the meds here, but just in case you’d like to have your own stock.”

“Thank you, doctor.”

“Now,” she said, removing the needle and pressing a bit of cotton over its place, “would you like your own supply of antihistamines? Both types, just in case.”

“Um… I’m not sure yet,” Shepard told her, clearing her throat again (awkwardly).

Chakwas nodded, understanding, “Well, if you decide that you do, let me know. I have plenty.”

“I will,” she said as a bandage was put over the cotton to hold it down until it healed.

“And also tell me if either of you would like to take an allergy test—if one of you, or both, ends up having an allergy, it’s best to know how severe it is,” Chakwas informed, disposing of the used materials. “Neither of you appeared to have adverse reactions, which is a good sign, but allergies can always develop over time—so definitely take precautions for your… future encounters.”

“Will do, doc,” Shepard said with a smile (and rapidly reddening cheeks). She turned to leave, but then hesitated, “Erm… Dr. Chakwas?”

Chakwas paused and looked over at her as she returned the gauze packets and bottle of medicine, “Yes, Commander?”

She shifted her weight, biting her lip nervously, “How did… How did Garrus seem when he came in here? Did he say anything?”

“Oh, you know I can’t answer that, Shepard,” Chakwas answered dutifully. “Doctor-Patient confidentiality keeps me from divulging anything said to me privately.”

 _Shit, I should have realized that,_ Shepard thought, cursing herself. “Sorry, I knew better than to ask,” she said, sighing.

Chakwas waved a hand, “Please, don’t apologize.” She turned away from the supply cabinet and pointed at Shepard, “I will say, however, that I like Garrus—and I like you, too—but you should talk to each other about whatever happened and what it means for the mission.”

“Believe me, doctor, I know that and we’ve planned on it,” Shepard assured her. “We just need time to process.”

“Good to hear,” she said, crossing her arms behind her back. “For what it’s worth, Commander, and if I’m not overstepping, I think the two of you would make a fine match.”

Shepard was a little taken aback by that, but she smiled, “I appreciate that, doctor. Thank you.” She then left the med bay to go organize her locker and think about who she wanted for today’s ground team. She was genuinely glad to see there wasn’t any kind of extreme reaction from anyone of the crew. Yet.

She’d stolen a glance at Kaidan when she first came out of her cabin, and he gave her the usual polite nod and half-salute with which the other Alliance soldiers greeted her. From their early conversations, it seemed like Kaidan had hoped there would be something between him and Shepard, but she never let it get that far. It wasn’t like he was bad-looking or that she was put off by him—nothing like that, he was actually very courteous and handsome—there was just no real attraction for her, and she didn’t want to lead him on. She’d never been one to get attached to people, especially after Mindoir, and Kaidan seemed to be the opposite. It would be wrong to use him like that.

But after what she and Garrus had done, she wasn’t quite sure where that principle stood anymore. She had no idea what Garrus’ perspective would be on a casual relationship, and for some reason, the idea of a casual relationship with Garrus disappointed her.

 _And this is why he and I need to talk soon,_ she thought to herself, sighing angrily as she shoved a gun back in place.

She thought back to the previous night, trying to fill in the blanks in her memory… and then something came to her…

_“What is that mouth thing you humans do?” Garrus slurred curiously._

_Shepard laughed, sloppily pouring more whiskey into her glass, “Whaddya mean?”_

_He tried to make a gesture, bringing his glass hand to his empty palm, “The thing where you touch mouths—what is that?”_

_“Kissing?” she said, lifting an eyebrow. “Turians don’t do that?”_

_He shook his head, “No—we can’t. Our mouths aren’t—” He used his free hand to point over his own mouth, top to bottom, “We aren’t built for that.”_

_Shepard sat back on the couch, “Is it only a human thing? I would have thought asari do it, too.”_

_He shrugged, “I dunno, I only noticed humans doing it. Asari usually go for other species, not their own. ‘S like, offensive or something if they do.” He waved his drink back and forth, as if to wipe the idea away, “But we’re straying from my question, Sash… Sasha.” Garrus looked at her pointedly, “It’s called kissing?”_

_She nodded, “Yes—it’s how we show affection. There’s all kinds of kissing, though. The mouth-to-mouth one is for like, couples. Sometimes family, but usually couples.”_

_“Was your family mouth-to-mouthers?”_

_That actually made her laugh, “Pfft, no… we just kissed each other on the cheek. I always thought families that mouth-kissed were weird, too close.” She took a sloppy sip of her drink._

_Garrus chuckled too. “So what other kinds of kissing are there?”_

_She shrugged, “We kiss everywhere—all over. ‘S like the opposite of what you said about turians, our mouths_ **_are_ ** _built for that, so we do it anywhere, everywhere. But that kissing is like, strictly sexual.”_

_“I figured,” he muttered._

_“You asked,” she pointed out, pointing a finger. “So what about you?”_

_“What about me?”_

_“Turians,” she said. “How do they kiss?”_

_“We can’t, I told you.”_

_She shook her head, “You know what I mean—what’s like, the equiv… equivalent?”_

_Garrus tapped his forehead with one of his talons, “We touch foreheads. Most of the time with like, intense eye contact.”_

_Shepard lifted her eyebrows, seemingly unimpressed, “Hot.”_

_“It is,” he insisted. “Us turians, we’re all about the heavy eye contact. ‘S meaningful. Humans don’t look at each other when… when they kiss?”_

_“Never,” she said, closing her eyes and shaking her head. “That would be weird.”_

_Garrus shrugged and swirled his drink, “I think you’re missing out.”_

_“Is that an invitation, Off-Officer?” she asked, grinning._

_“It would delight me to prove a Spectre wrong,” he teased. “Would give me practice for Sar… Saren.”_

_Shepard laughed softly, scooting towards him, “You planning on making a move on Saren?”_

_Garrus scoffed, “Absolutely not! There’s not enough credits in the galaxy.”_

_She laughed harder, “I’m just teasing you… you really hate that guy, don’t you?”_

_Garrus nodded, turning towards her, “Don’t you?”_

_“’Course I do,” she said. “He killed that nice Spectre we had aboard. Ni… Nihlus.”_

_“He was a good man,” he agreed solemnly. “I respected him a lot.”_

_Shepard raised her glass, “To Nihlus.”_

_Garrus raised his, clinking it to hers, “To Nihlus.” They drank deep, the ice in their glasses the only sound in the room for a moment._

_“So?” Shepard asked suddenly._

_He turned to look at her, apparently just realizing how close she’d gotten to him. “S-So what?”_

_“You said you’d be delighted to prove me wrong,” she said with a shrug. “So do it. Lay that heavy eye contact on me.”_

_“Don’t be so cocky,” Garrus warned, pointing a talon at her. “You may find I can be quite irresistible.”_

_She laughed softly, gesturing to herself, “Is Garrus Vakarian telling_ **_me_ ** _not to be so cocky?”_

_“Yes—I am telling the great Commander Shepard, first human Spectre, to realize she might not be so infallible.”_

_“Oh, it’s on now,” she said, making a point to set her glass on the table a little rougher than she needed to. “Prove it, hot shot.”_

_Garrus chuckled and did the same with his drink and came back to her, leaning in close. He brushed his forehead with hers, all the while keeping his eyes locked with her own. She could see he had bright, electric blue eyes, intense and serious, and she pressed her forehead into his, nuzzling him. It was hard for her to keep her eyes open, she found herself wanting to close them and take in the strange, foreign cologne he wore. It smelled fresh and light, but still had notes of a kind of musk that made her bite her lip._

_Suddenly, she felt his talons running through her hair, his touch curious and lingering. Surprised she pulled away a little, and he froze where he was. “I’m sorry,” he murmured quickly. “Your hair… it’s just so… beautiful.”_

_She blinked, “Thank you.”_

_“It looks like… sunlight, when it shines through the treetops back home,” Garrus told her while stroking her hair thoughtfully, staring at it. “It’s bright and yellow, but there’s also shadows… and depth.”_

_She said nothing, but her hands went to the front of his armor and she crawled into his lap, straddling him. “Can I kiss you?” she asked, pressing her forehead to his again._

_Garrus nodded, “Should I close my eyes?”_

_“Yeah,” she whispered, her mouth covering his. It was a little strange, kissing a mouth like his, but not unpleasant. He seemed to feel the same, moving his mouth against her full lips. He murmured softly, and she could feel the noise reverberate under her palms. It excited her. She pulled away just barely, “Now with your tongue, like this…” Garrus opened his mouth and allowed her to lead him._

_His tongue had the strong taste of alcohol, but there was something sweet about it. The texture of it made her shiver, and she wondered what it would feel like… elsewhere._

_She felt Garrus’ hands move to her waist, his talons forming over her hips and then back up. Everything went blurry in her mind, the warmth of their mixed breath felt steamy, and gradually the simple kiss evolved into an urgent make-out. His arms encircled her, squeezing her soft body into his. Her hands went to his face and neck, gently holding him in place while their tongues danced._

_“You’re warm,” Garrus said hoarsely when they parted._

The next thing Shepard knew, he had her up against the wall, hoisting her to his height by supporting her thighs. At some point, he’d taken off his armor and the top of his undersuit and she had removed her shirt. He’d been fascinated with her smooth skin, and his talons made her break out in gooseflesh wherever he touched, tickling her and making her shiver. His hot breath was on her neck, and the feel of his strange tongue—

“Commander?”

Kaidan’s voice interrupting her memory nearly made her cry out in surprise. She felt like she’d been caught doing something illegal, but in reality she was just zoned out, staring at her helmet in her locker. She turned, shutting the door to the locker, “Kaidan, hey there.”

He looked a little sheepish, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“I was just lost in thought,” she said with a shrug. “What’s up?”

“I wanted to ask you what our plans were for today.”

“Ah,” Shepard said with a nod. “I’m just going to call for a ground team to do some exploration and mineral collecting. I’m about to head up to the CIC to set a destination.”

He gave her that half-salute again, “Understood, just give me a buzz if you want me on the ground team.” Kaidan walked away towards his usual spot, leaving Shepard with her thoughts once more. The memories came bubbling to the surface again, and she casually made her way to her quarters in an attempt to get a grip on herself.

**G G G G G G G G**

When Garrus saw Shepard again, it was in the shuttle bay. She was geared up in her usual white armor, her hair fixed in that glossy, elegant bun. She gave him a warm smile as she approached, and he stepped away from the control panel near him to greet her.

“Hey,” he said, unable to come up with anything cleverer than that.

“Hi—how are you feeling?” she asked, adjusting her helmet under her arm.

Garrus nodded, “Much better, thank you. And you?”

“Better,” she confirmed. “Ready to gear up? I’m taking you and Tali with me today.”

“Right away, Commander,” he said dutifully.

As he passed her to retrieve his gear from his locker, the small breeze between them kicked up a scent he recognized from last night coming from her. It was tropical and sweet, and he remembered tasting it on his tongue. The memory made his mouth water…

_Garrus was naked with Sasha, kissing her mouth again. Her lips tasted fruity—soft and warm against his own mouth. He murmured into them, pressing her up against the wall. The coolness of the metal wall made her break away from him in a surprised gasp. He chuckled, lifting her up to his height (she was a head and a half shorter than him—it made it hard to kiss her) by supporting her muscular thighs, and her arms instinctively wrapped around the back of his neck._

_He buried his face into the warmth of her chest, nuzzling her soft, strange skin. The scent of her body made him moan softly, and his tongue came out to taste her. She gasped again, leaning her head to one side so he could get at her neck. Garrus could feel her pulse point with his mouth, and he licked that as well._

_Sasha moaned._

_He liked that sound._

_He liked it a lot._

_“I want to taste you everywhere,” Garrus murmured to her._

_Sasha was breathing heavily and nodded, her hand coming to grab one of the his that was supporting her thighs. Garrus adjusted her slightly so she could direct it. She brought it between her legs, and he felt her curious folds—swollen, smooth, and slick with need. Garrus shivered and felt his cock emerge between them. Sasha looked at him, her golden eyes filled with heat. “I want you to taste me here,” she whispered to him softly, letting him dip his talons inside her. She wiggled, closing her eyes to enjoy the feeling. “I want to know what your tongue feels like…” She bit her lip, taking hold of his cock while his talons filled her. She opened her eyes again, “And I want to know what_ **_you_ ** _feel like…”_

_Garrus shivered excitedly. He wouldn’t deny her anything._

Garrus swallowed hard at the memory as he gathered his weapons from his locker. However drunk they’d been last night, they’d certainly been sexually coordinated. More memories began rapidly flashing before his eyes—kneeling on the floor to be at eye-level with her human sheath while she laid on the bed, pulling her by the hips to his face, his tongue tasting that foreign sweetness between her folds, and the way Sasha arched her back from the pleasure he gave her, the way she mewled his name—he tried to push them out of his mind for the moment, because he was intensely aware of Wrex right next to him.

When he had his gear sorted out, he finally turned to go join Shepard and Tali by the Mako while Joker got the ship into drop position.

**S S S S S S S S**

Shepard wanted Garrus again, and soon. When the memories started to come back, it was all she could do to not snatch him up and bring her back to her cabin. Before she’d come down to group up with the ground squad, she’d spent about an hour “reminiscing” about the night before, until her fingers pruned. She figured it would help her clear her head some.

It proved to be somewhat successful as she drove the Mako around the surface of the planet they were exploring—though it might have been because she was having to concentrate on not running into threshers. Garrus sat in the seat beside her as she drove. He never said anything, but she occasionally saw his mandible clenching and unclenching, and she wondered if that was because of her driving or if he was having a similar predicament to her own. Either way, she chose not to point it out, and if Tali ever noticed the tension between them, she didn’t say.

The mining, searching, and logging was a bit of a slog, but they did find some useful supplies along the way. There were a lot of different readings on the radar to check out, and she went for every one of them, choosing to scour this planet for what it had.

She was just headed toward the final radar marking when something in the engine hissed and popped, promptly making the Mako stop altogether.

“Damnit!” Shepard cursed. “I’ll call for Joker.”

“Wait, I might be able to fix it,” Tali offered, opening the hatch to go outside. “Give me a few minutes.”

“Alright. Thanks, Tali—be careful,” she told the quarian.

“Aye, aye, Commander.”

The hatch shut behind her, and then Shepard sighed, leaning back into her seat. Garrus seemed to do the same, the both of them staring out the window.

He was quiet for a moment, but then he finally broke the silence, “Er… Shepard?”

“Hm?” She turned her head to look at him.

He met her eyes with his own, “Are you… remembering things? From last night, I mean.”

Shepard bit her lip, trying not to smile just yet, “Yeah. A few. Are you?”

Garrus looked down, lightly coughing into his fist for a second before meeting her eyes again, “Yes. More… more than a few.”

“Anything good?”

He seemed nervous (at least she hoped that’s what it was), and he looked down again, “All of it is good.”

Shepard nodded, “Yeah… it was all good for me too.”

“So…”

She shrugged, “I’m just putting this out there: I want to do it again. No drinks this time.”

Garrus laughed, “Heh, yeah. That’s probably a good idea.” He looked at her seriously, “And I absolutely want to do it again. It’s a shame the first time is so muddled in our memories.”

She grinned at him, “Well, with what I’m remembering, we were great together.”

“Definitely,” he agreed firmly. He looked out the window, apparently lost in something from last night, “You were… Spirits abound, you were exquisite.”

 _“Exquisite,”_ she repeated dramatically, genuinely flattered. “Garrus, you’re going to make me blush.”

He turned to her again, murmuring, “Maybe I want you to… Shall I tell you what I remember?”

Shepard smirked mischievously, “Wait till we’re back on the ship. I don’t want to have to lock Tali out of here.”

Garrus chuckled, “Oh, no—that wouldn’t be nice.”

There was a knock on the hatch before Tali opened it back up, “Try it now, Commander. I think I’ve fixed it.”

Shepard tapped at the controls and the Mako lurched back to life, and she sighed heavily, relieved. “Thank you, Tali. I’m so glad I brought you with me today.”

“Happy to be here, Shepard,” Tali said cheerfully, shutting the hatch behind her and getting back to her seat.

“Alright,” Shepard said, adjusting herself in her seat. “Let’s log this last marker and get back to the ship. We’ve earned it.”

**G G G G G G G G**

Garrus carefully put away his gear, trying not to appear too eager. Shepard would need a few minutes to remove her armor and check with any communications, but she’d told him he could wait in her cabin for her while she took care of her tasks.

In the meantime, he got in the lift with the intention of seeing Dr. Chakwas for those antihistamines. He thought he’d get both kinds just to save Shepard the trip. When the lift finally stopped, he got out and strolled into the medbay.

“Garrus,” Dr. Chakwas greeted cheerfully. “How nice of you to visit me twice in one day. What else can I do for you?”

He approached her, leaning in close with his voice low, “I was hoping you could supply me with a levo-antihistamine, as well as a dextro version to give to Shepard.”

She grinned knowingly, “I don’t think that will be necessary, Garrus. Shepard already came by and picked those medicines up for the two of you.”

Garrus chuckled and felt his neck flush a dark blue, “I see.”

Chakwas winked at him, nodding at the door, “Better not keep a lady waiting, Garrus.”

“Especially not a lady like Shepard,” he agreed, giving her a slight nod before turning to leave.

“Have fun…” she said in a sing-song tone.

**S S S S S S S S**

Shepard found Garrus back in her quarters once she was finished with her rounds. He was sitting on her couch, and when he heard her come in, immediately he stood up to greet her.

“Shepard,” he said softly.

She met him half-way, grinning up at him. “Sasha… please,” she told him.

“Sasha,” he murmured to her. “I heard you already went to Chakwas.”

She bit her lip, nodding, “Yeah. Here.” Shepard walked over to her desk and grabbed the dose of pills for him to take, pulling out a fresh bottled water from the cooler in her wall.

Garrus took the items from her and carefully removed the pills from the little plastic packet before putting them in his mouth, swallowing them with a generous gulp of water. “There we go,” he said, sighing contentedly as he set the water down. “All is well.”

“Yeah,” Shepard said, coming close to him. She was so much shorter than Garrus, her head almost reaching the collar of his armor. Her fingers absently traced lines on his chest, and she bit her lip, wondering if he would press her up against the wall again. If need be, she would climb up his body.

Garrus chuckled, “I can tell there’s something on your mind. Care to share with me?”

“I want you,” she said simply, honestly.

One of his talons came to gently run down her cheek, tickling her. “I want you too,” he told her.

Shepard took a step back and began removing her shirt. She wished she had a sexier set of underwear underneath her clothes, but she had to work with the sporty, practical stuff the life of a soldier had allotted her.

Garrus watched her for a moment, and then began removing the various components to his armor, letting them fall to the floor. Once he was stripped down to his bottoms, and she down to her bra and panties, he quickly reached out to lift her from the floor. Shepard let out a little surprised gasp, but held onto him.

She touched the side of his face and pressed her mouth to his gently, and Garrus pressed back, his tongue coming out to lick at her lip balm. She sighed and let him in her mouth, tangling her own tongue with his. It was sweet and intense, and when she parted from him she could see his electric blue eyes were filled with fire. “Tell me what you remember,” she whispered to him.

Garrus walked over to the foot of her bed, sitting with her straddling his lap. His hand formed over her mound, the tips of his talons barely tickling her folds through her panties. “I remember the way you asked me to taste you,” he told her softly, whispering in her ear. She shivered. “I remember the way you moaned for me when my tongue went all the way inside you—do you remember that?” he asked huskily. He took her by the hips and pressed her into his strange, rippled erection. If she’d been standing, her knees would have gone weak. He was big, he was textured in all the right ways, he was throbbing… right between her folds. “Do you remember the way you touched me, the way you asked to feel me inside you?” he asked her. “My talons were inside your strange human sheath, and you were so wet, so warm… so soft.” Garrus broke from her ear to meet her eyes, “I want to feel that again, Sasha. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”

Shepard nodded enthusiastically, grinding on his lap, “Yes… god, yes. I want you to fuck me, Garrus.” She pressed her mouth to the side of his head, as close to his ear as she could get, “I was in here before we went out today, remembering what I could of last night.” Her hand went inside his pants, grasping his big cock, “I couldn’t stop thinking about this… my fingers were so wet, trying to make me cum the way you made me cum last night.”

Garrus was trembling, his breath shallow and heavy, “Did you?”

“Oh I came,” she whispered, still reaching into his pants deep with every stroke of his cock. “Again and again and again, but never as hard as you made me last night.” She kissed his neck, back up to his ear. “I want you to fuck me, Garrus,” she whispered again, begging. “Fuck me hard.”

A strangled moan escaped him, and she felt him rip her panties to shreds in a single, simple motion. He did the same with her bra, and her hefty, restrained breasts sprang free. His eyes darted over her naked form for a second before looking to her face again. “Let me see your hair,” he breathed. “Take it down again.”

Shepard smiled and took out the clip holding her fancy bun in place, throwing it off to the side somewhere on the floor. She shook her blonde mane free, letting the waves tumble down her back.

Garrus took a fistful of it in his hand, not pulling it, but looking at the way it shined in the light. “Spirits, you’re so incredibly beautiful,” he breathed, marveling at her. “Come here…”

He brought her mouth to his, kissing her as he flipped them over on the bed. Shepard squeaked in surprise, but then sighed, wrapping her legs around him. Garrus slid down her body and buried his face between her legs. When she felt his enormous, textured tongue run between her folds she gasped loudly and arched her back. “Garrus!” she exclaimed breathlessly. Her hands pressed against the headboard, pushing against it to make her mound collide with his face.

Garrus growled, his strong hands holding her thighs apart before he feasted on her like some kind of wild animal. Shepard cried out, trembling against him. The sensation of his tongue on her was unlike anything she’d ever felt before, and all of it paled in comparison. It made her toes curl.

“Oh, Sasha,” Garrus whispered against her center, his hot breath tickling her sensitive skin. “Sasha, you taste so good…” She felt one of his hands run down between her legs, a talon gently scraping against her clit. She gasped. “Oh?” he murmured curiously. The talon brushed against her swollen bud again, rolling her wetness around it. She almost screamed, trying to clamp her legs together from the sheer intensity of it. Garrus chuckled, keeping her trembling thighs apart with his other arm, “Ah, I see now…”

When he dove back with his tongue, he made it undulate against his new discovery and Shepard’s eyes rolled into the back of her head. She bit her lip to keep from screaming out loud. Her cabin was probably soundproof, but she didn’t want to stress test it too much.

Garrus continued on her clit with vigor, using his long tongue to drag more of her wetness from her quivering opening around the stimulated flesh. “Oh my god,” Shepard whispered, her eyes squeezing shut. It was building in her, coiling tighter and tighter, begging to spring free. Her breaths got sharper and shallower, her body shuddering from the tension. “Yes,” she breathed, rocking her hips into his face. “Y-Yes… oh fuck me, fuck me, fuck me _—OHN~!”_

She arched her back hard, feeling herself cum with such severe pleasure that her vision blurred and her body broke out in tight shivers. Garrus moaned against her throbbing cunt, lapping up the wetness that came pouring from her so freely, warm and sinful.

Her walls were still fluttering when she felt him climb up her again, kissing her neck. “That was so sexy,” he murmured into her pulse. “Do you know how sexy you are when you finish?”

Shepard laughed softly, cupping his face in her hands to make him look at her, “Do you know how fucking good you are at what you just did to me?” Her body was still shaking. “Look at me,” she told him earnestly, grinning. “I’m a mess.”

He pressed his forehead to hers, his electric blue eyes boring into hers with white hot lust, “A sexy, _delicious,_ messy mess…”

She kissed him, “It’s that fucking sexy tongue of yours, Garrus. Do turians use that on women?”

He chuckled, “Not really. The anatomy of turian women doesn’t exactly match up with yours.”

Shepard hummed smiling at him, “Their loss…”

“Well, their sensitive spot is further inside,” he explained, and then he lowered his cock against her folds, sliding it up and down her overly-sensitive wet clit. “That’s what _this_ is for…”

She was shivering, but meeting his hip motions with her own, “Oh, us human women have a sensitive spot inside as well.”

Garrus chuckled again, “Then let me see if I can hit it…”

“Oh, I think you will, big guy,” she joked, and then she cried out when Garrus pushed his massive cock inside her. The four hard ridges of his length each passed over the spot in question, and she urged him faster, her hips pushing up into his. “F-Fuck…” She nodded, looking up at him, “You fuck me as hard as you want.”

Garrus was shivering himself, “S-Spirits… you’re s-so soft… wet all over.” He pressed his head into her shoulder, starting a slow rhythm. He moaned, exhaling hard against her skin. “G-Give me a moment to… Sasha… Oh, Spirits… _Sasha…”_

Shepard smiled and held him close, letting him nuzzle the crook of her neck while he got used to her. “Easy, big guy,” she told him gently. She kissed the side of his head, “Easy…”

It took a minute or two, but when Garrus finally got a grip on himself, he went at her hard, just like she wanted. He fucked her so hard the metal bed began to squeak under them. Shepard’s nails raked down his back, scratching at his metallic skin. Every stroke from his cock nearly made her cum, but she begged herself not to finish too fast.

To keep herself from doing just that, she pressed her face into his shoulder, her mouth open in a constant gasp. She was practically drooling from the pleasure.

Garrus seemed to be clinging to a similar strategy, his forehead firmly between her breasts (which bounced embarrassingly with every thrust of his cock—he didn’t seem to mind, though.) Growls erupted from him and he sped up. “Sasha-Sasha, I’m going to… I don’t know if I sho—”

“Do it!” Shepard cried, panting. “I wanna feel it, come on…”

With that permission, he started going harder, beginning to tremble. _“Fuck,”_ he murmured. “Fuck yes, Sa… _SASHA!”_

Shepard came with him, crying out his name as well. She felt his giant cock twitching harshly inside her, his strange, thick seed spilling over and over inside her, so hot and messy. It overflowed from her, and she enjoyed the sensation it gave her.

Garrus was breathing hard through his nose, nuzzling her forehead with his eyes closed. Shepard nudged him back earnestly. “Spirits… that was—that was incredible,” he panted, his body still shivering.

She was the same, warm and tingly with pleasure, “Mmn, and then some…” She kissed him, whispering, “It’s sexy when you finish too, Garrus.”

He kissed her back warmly, “I like it when you say my name.”

She bit her lip, smiling, “I like it when you say mine. It’s not often anyone says it anymore.”

“Well, I’ll say it all you like… Sasha,” he told her, tickling her ear with his mouth.

“Mmm, I’ll take you up on that… Garrus.”

**G G G G G G G G**

**Two Years Later**

Garrus hid behind the cover from the fire of the mercs. He’d been holding out for as long as he could, but he was close to exhausted now. He’d been up for days, surviving, firing, fighting. It was vicious. It was all he’d known since Sasha died. He tried to remember her face: her smile, her scent, her glorious golden hair…

When the Normandy was attacked, he was sure she was right behind him, he was sure she’d make it out. She’d insisted to make sure every last person made it off the ship, being the noble commander she was, insisted that he take a pod with Wrex. He remembered the last kiss they’d shared, the hurried little taste of her soft, balmy lips before she’d pushed him towards the escape pods, donning her helmet.

He saw her body floating in space, reaching for the ripped oxygen valve in a futile effort to try and breathe again.

He had screamed. He beat his fists into the metal of the pod as it sped off to the nearest planet, falling to his knees, staring at her in horror until she was just another spec in the stars.

That memory had haunted him ever since. The first month without her, he nearly put a gun in his mouth. He tried going back to C-Sec, he tried applying for Spectre training… but there was nothing to fill the void she left behind. His hope died that day—his Spirit left him to join hers out in the black.

He left for Omega, wanting to get as far away from anything she’d touched as he could. He started killing criminals. Cold, surgical, indifferent. One by one trying to scourge the galaxy of evil before it did him in. He’d gained followers in the process, other men that believed like he did, that hoped for a better Omega. They never saw his indifference though, they never realized how dead he felt, how he was just going through the motions. But they believed in him, they helped him however they could. And at times Garrus would wonder _Is this how she would do things? Is she watching me?_

_Where are you, my Sasha, my sunshine goddess?_

Garrus rose to look over his cover again, his sniper rifle at the ready. He took a shot at one of the merc recruits before lowering himself again. He cursed Sidonis, one of his own men. Traitor. All of his crew were dead because of that man—that _turian._ That was the worst part of it, in Garrus’ mind, that the traitor was one of his own people. It put a sour taste in his mouth. But there was some part of him that wondered if this was where all the slaughter he committed had been leading him, if he earned this… if he deserved it.

Sighing, Garrus rose again, scanning the area. That’s when he saw it…

White armor.

N7 logo.

He swallowed, looking through his scope at the soldier in white (a poor color choice for the darkness of Omega). Not only white, but human armor… human female armor.

Garrus’ heart sped up, and he watched as the soldier fired on the mercs, getting closer to his hideout. She was clearing them out, trailed by two others—a krogan in silver armor and a salarian in medical garb. His throat closed up, and he struggled to breathe. Could it really be her? It had to be—no one else would be so foolish to wear white in a firefight on Omega. Sasha was no fool. She was brave. Braver than him.

The gunfire stopped, and Garrus rose from his position to wait for the ghost of Sasha to greet him. _Is this how it happens? Her Spirit comes to guide me away from the world? Where would we go? Where are you taking me, my Sasha?_

When she and her team got to his doorway, they stopped when they saw him. “Archangel?” her voice asked.

 _She’s… She’s_ **_real_ ** _?_

Garrus dropped his gun and took off his helmet. She lowered her gun.

“Gar… Garrus?”

He threw his helmet to the side and crossed the way to her, and she did the same, tossing her helmet away. When she was close, he took her face in his hands, seeing the cybernetic scars under her tanned skin. He could smell that tropical scent coming from her, and the tears in her golden eyes.

“Sasha… it’s… it’s you?”

“It’s me,” she sobbed. “It’s me.”

Garrus lifted her in his arms, their armor scraping into each other awkwardly, “Oh my sunshine… I’ve missed you. I’ve missed you so much…”

She kissed him, “I missed you too, Garrus. I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry I’ve been gone. There’s so much I need to say… I’ve been so alone without you.”

“Me too,” he told her, pressing his forehead to hers. He held her tightly and closed his eyes, “We’re together now.”

“I’ll never leave you again, Garrus,” Sasha promised. “Never.”

Garrus sighed, “Oh, Sasha… you never left me. Not for one second.”

They stood there embracing for what felt like an eternity before more gunfire sounded below. Renewed with the fire of hope, Garrus fought with Sasha at his side. With her alone, he felt like he could take on the whole galaxy and the evils that came along with it, and for the first time in two years, he felt himself again. 

Sasha brought his Spirit back to him.

**G G G G G G G G**

_I think this might stay a one-shot, but who knows? I said that about Daisy and even Stardust, so we’ll see. But I hope you guys enjoyed this one!_

_Be safe, clean, and healthy y’all,_

_Glacier_


	2. Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look into the important moments of Sasha and Garrus' relationship together.

_Welp, here we go again. Guess I lied. This WILL be the last chapter for this story, however_ _－I’m putting my foot down. The reason for that is because this is a more condensed story than Stardust. I don’t want to end up writing a whole other version of that, so this story will cover the most important moments of Shepard and Garrus’ life._

_ALSO, very important－trigger warning for those sensitive to sexual assault and violence in general. There will be a brief part of this story discussing something that happened in Shepard’s life a while back. It may be too intense for some readers, and I will add a note before and after the memory is talked about, as well as check the content warning box for the Sunlight itself. With those safeholds in place, I hope that will keep anyone who is sensitive to those subjects interested in this story. I love y’all, and I want you to feel safe._

_Now, please enjoy the rest of Sunlight…_

**S S S S S S S S**

**Normandy SR-2, directly following the Archangel recruitment mission…**

Shepard speed-walked with the gurney carrying Garrus’ gasping body, her white armor doused in the dark blue of his turian blood. Her hands were shaking, jaw trembling, her face ashen as she hurried to the medbay with Mordin to operate.

All she could hear was the sound of that rocket, the deafening boom accompanied by the orange flash of light just feet away from her, and then Garrus slumping to the ground. She took out the gunship in a white-hot rage, screaming furiously as she fired her grenade launcher. When she’d turned and saw him there, lifeless for a moment, her heart sank low… but then Garrus gasped, coughing up a mouthful of blood, and she rushed to his side. His eyes found hers, and she felt his hand weakly reach out to clasp hers.

 _“Sa… Sash…”_ he gurgled.

Shepard shook her head, _“Shhh, don’t try to speak. Just look at me. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”_

She demanded they do everything they could to save him. Grunt, her new krogan recruit, slung him over his shoulder and carried him until they could find a gurney to lay him on. Mordin did what he could to slow the bleeding, buying them mere minutes until they could get back to the ship.

The medbay doors opened before them and quickly Dr. Chakwas got to work. Word had been sent up to the ship before they’d arrived, so she already prepared a table with supplies for whatever they needed to do.

Scans indicated Garrus’ arm was almost completely detached from his body, his right lung had a massive puncture, and all kinds of nerve and tissue damage up his neck and face. It was beyond anything she was trained to do, she realized fearfully. No amount of combat medicine would be able to help him.

“Should leave, Shepard,” Mordin said, hurriedly removing pieces of Garrus’ armor with Dr. Chakwas. “We will care for him－top priority.”

Before she could protest, Chakwas spoke up. “He’s right,” she added sternly, her hands covered in deep blue. “This is going to be complicated, and will likely take a long time. Go get cleaned up.” She met Shepard’s eyes, and a meaningful look passed between them, “I’ll take good care of him, Commander. We both will.”

Shepard nodded, doing her best not to cry but sniffed audibly anyway, “Okay… Save him, please. I… I can’t do this without him.”

To that, Chakwas only nodded, and Shepard couldn’t watch anymore. Leaving the medbay she looked at her hands, down at her armor. His blood was everywhere. When she caught a look at herself in the reflection of the elevator, she saw the streaks of it on her face and in her hair.

She shoved the horror she felt down deep, clenching her fists and climbing into the lift. Once she got to her quarters, she put her armor in her locker and used the control pad to set it to clean and sanitize it. It took all her energy to shower. If it wasn’t for the operation going on below her, she would have stood there watching the water run down the drain for hours.

So she hastily got dressed, drying her hair, styling it－all with shaking hands. She used her finger to apply a light bit of lip balm. It was the only makeup she could manage to apply in her state of mind.

When she got back down to the floor of the medbay, she watched from the mess hall. She paced for about an hour, watching the work being done. She could see cybernetics being installed, she could see he wasn’t bleeding as much anymore. That had to be a good sign, right?

“Commander,” a voice said behind her. “I’m sorry about your friend.”

The rage was back in her, boiling just under the surface. “Did you know it was him?” Shepard asked coldly, refusing to turn around. “Did your boss know who Archangel was?”

“Unlikely,” the voice said, cold and ever so slightly defensive. “Garrus covered his tracks well after you died.”

Shepard snorted, shaking her head, “I bet he knew. _Illusive Man.”_ She rolled her eyes. She spun around, facing the owner of the voice, “Why aren’t you in there? You’re the one that brought me back, right? You could be helping.”

“I’d be happy to,” Miranda answered cooly. “But I didn’t think you’d trust me with his life, so I’ve kept my distance. You haven’t exactly been welcoming－”

 _“WELCOMING?!”_ she shouted furiously, tears in her eyes. Miranda stayed stone-faced as ever, but took a step back. Shepard shook her head, “Cerberus murdered _fifty_ Alliance soldiers with _thresher maws._ They captured another soldier and used him for all kinds of experiments－for what? For what?”

“Shepard, I－”

“Do you want to know what their screams sounded like, Miranda? Do you want to know how many of them had families?” She was shaking with disgust, “Do you know what _I_ did that night－what I had to do?”

Miranda swallowed, taking another step back. She was taller than Shepard (everyone was), but she knew what she was capable of, “Commander－”

 _“Welcoming,”_ Shepard repeated, shaking her head. “These people you work for… They’re monsters, Miranda. I don’t know how you don’t see it, and you want me to be _welcoming._ You’ve shackled me to this ship, you’ve shackled my friends, and now… now you’re about to shackle Garrus. _My_ Garrus.” She took a deep breath, her eyes narrowing at her XO, “If he dies, I’m out. We’re _all_ out. Do you hear me?” She pointed towards Miranda’s office, “So you call your creepy boss, and you tell him that, because I don’t give a flying _fuck_ how many credits he spent bringing me back to life－if Garrus dies, it’ll be the worst decision he ever made. Now get out of my sight.”

Miranda quickly scurried back to her office, leaving Shepard to continue staring into the medbay.

**G G G G G G G G**

Garrus slowly blinked awake, groggy and with his head dully throbbing in pain. When his vision focused, he could tell he was in some kind of small medical facility. He groaned, trying to sit up.

“Easy,” a familiar voice said, gently helping him. “Don’t move too fast.”

Garrus turned to see Dr. Chakwas smiling softly at him, “Thank the Spirits… Doctor, it’s so good to see you.”

She seemed genuinely touched by that, and her smile broadened, “It’s wonderful to see you, Garrus. It’s been too long.” Her eyes looked him over, “How do you feel? Any pain?”

“Just my head, but it’s not bad,” he said, sighing. “What… What happened to me?”

Chakwas’ eyes saddened, “You were hit pretty badly, Garrus. We had to replace a lot of your right side with cybernetics. We saved the arm, though－and even your right lung. There’s a salarian man on this ship, his name is Dr. Mordin Solus. He’s the one that made that possible. I know he was in the field with you when it happened－you’ll want to meet him properly at some point, but… I imagine you want to see Shepard.”

At that his eyes snapped to attention, searching for her. “Yes,” he said, nodding quickly. “Where is she?”

“Above, in her quarters,” Chakwas answered. “Can you walk?”

Garrus slipped off the bed he’d been laying on, putting weight on his feet. He took a few small steps and nodded, “I think so.” He paused and looked at her, “How do I look?”

Her eyes went sad again, a corner of her mouth twitched in a feeble attempt at a sympathetic smile, “It’s… going to be an adjustment. You’ll need to heal first.”

He sighed heavily, “That doesn’t inspire much confidence.” He looked down at himself, seeing the cracked, scorched armor they’d put back on him. “I had hoped to look a little more dashing.”

“Oh, women love scars, Garrus,” Chakwas said with a wink. She ushered him on, “Go on and see her. She’s been a wreck.”

Garrus nodded and went to leave, but turned one last time, “Doctor… thank you.”

Dr. Chakwas nodded, smiling warmly at him, “You’re welcome, Garrus. The galaxy would be a terrible place without you in it. Now go see to your lady.”

**S S S S S S S S**

Dr. Chakwas had banished her from the mess once they were done stabilizing Garrus. _“He needs to rest,”_ she told Shepard. _“And so do you. Please, I’ll notify you once he’s awake. Better yet, I’ll have him come up to you－he should have full-functionality by the time he wakes.”_

Hearing that, Shepard felt immense relief. She’d thanked Chakwas and Mordin for their hard work, and then returned to her quarters. But she couldn’t sleep. Instead, she’d paced, she’d tried to watch vids, she’d tried to meditate like she was trained to do… Nothing seemed to help.

She was just about to give in and take a dose of sleeping medication when her door buzzed. “Come in,” she said quickly, her eyes darting to her door in hope.

The door _whooshed_ open, and Garrus stood there, looking sheepish and unsure in his ruined armor.

Shepard ran up to him, up the little set of stairs to her entryway, and nearly launched herself into his arms before remembering he’d just gotten out of surgery. She stopped herself inches from him, looking up at his face with tears in her eyes, “How… How do you feel?”

Garrus picked her up, grunting softly, “Better, sunshine. I’m so much better now that I’m with you.” He held her as close as he could with his bulky armor on, nuzzling her cheek and neck. “Spirits abound… how are you alive, Sasha? I saw you… I saw it happen.”

Shepard held his face in her hands, looking at the large bandage on his wounded cheek. She sighed, “Come sit down with me, I’ll explain everything.”

He carried her down to her couch, and she helped him out of his armor. She’d gotten familiar with the light turian armor he used to wear, but the heavy stuff he was currently wearing had different seals, so there were a few things she had to learn. As she removed piece by piece, gently setting them down on the lounge portion of the couch next to them, she explained all that had happened so far－her resurrection, the mission, the recruits, and of course… Cerberus.

Garrus was aghast, “Of all people, Sasha… I never expected you to even tolerate them after everything we learned.”

She looked at him seriously, setting the last piece down and settling in his lap, “I don’t. I fully expect to be betrayed by them at some point in the future, and when that moment comes, I want the people I care about by my side－and that starts with you.” She touched her forehead to his, “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there sooner… I-If I had been, you wouldn’t－”

“Stop,” he told her firmly, shaking his head. “Don’t do that to yourself. I earned this. I’m the one that pissed off every merc gang in the Terminus Systems.”

Shepard held his face again, feeling her eyes sting, “If I’d known it was you, you’d have been the first one I went after, Garrus. When I woke up and I finally got a chance to ask some questions, you were the first person I asked about… and they told me you’d fallen off the grid.” She sobbed and looked down, “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

“Sasha,” Garrus breathed, holding her close to him. “I was so lost without you, sunshine… I’m just glad you’re back in my life. It feels so unreal.”

She nodded, “It feels the same way for me, too.” She lifted her head from his chest, running the back of her hand down his wounded cheek, “I love you, Garrus. I won’t ever leave you again.”

“I told you before,” Garrus said softly, touching a lock of the hair framing her face, “you never left me, Sasha. I never forgot－I never let myself forget anything about us, and I _never_ stopped loving you.” He kissed her lips, and Shepard sighed against his mouth, letting him taste her tongue. “Never,” he whispered.

**G G G G G G G G**

Garrus closed his eyes as Sasha stroked his cheek. “What happened to you back there?” she asked him worriedly. “What were you doing on Omega?”

He sighed sadly, “When you were… gone, I… I died with you. I was on the Citadel for a while, but I got tired of C-Sec, tired of the Council. So I went to Omega and just… I killed as many criminals as I could. A lot of the people I killed had connections to merc gangs, or were smaller merc leaders themselves, and the gangs didn’t really appreciate that.”

Sasha laughed softly, “No, I bet they didn’t.”

He went on, “Anyway, I started getting the attention of other people who liked what I was doing. Most of them were people already on Omega, but others sought me out－all of us, even－once we started making a real name for ourselves. I was a kind of… leader to them. They thought I was some kind of vigilante－and I guess I was－but I don’t think any of them ever realized what I’d been going through. I never talked about the SR-1 attack, or you…” Garrus looked up at her hesitantly. He would never omit anything he’d done or felt during their time apart, but a part of him still felt ashamed as he confessed his sins to her.

“You were in so much pain,” she said sadly. “Where are they now? Your team?”

Garrus closed his eyes, shaking his head, “Dead. All of them－all but one. The traitor.” He sighed again, “Sidonis. He asked for my help on a job, but when I arrived, no one was there.” He met her golden eyes with his own, unable to hide the pain and shame in them, “He’d made a deal with the mercenary gangs to give up our team. All he needed was for me to be gone from the hideout one day. When I left for the fake job… the mercs showed up in full force, outnumbered my men. They mowed them down before anyone could react.” He swallowed, “When I realised no one was coming to the fake job, I tried to get back to the hideout as fast as I could－but I was too late. Far, far too late.”

“Garrus…”

“I had to explain to their families what had happened to them. I did it in person, I figured I owed them that much,” he said quietly. “Fathers, mothers, wives, children… two of them had been single fathers, and that’s something I’ll have to live with the rest of my life, that there are two homeless children living on Omega because of me.” He felt Sasha touching his face, one hand leaving to gently rub at his chest, trying to soothe him. He looked at her seriously, “I swear, Sasha, if I ever get the chance… if I ever find Sidonis, I’ll kill him.” Garrus shrugged, “I know you wouldn’t approve, but I don’t see any other way. Not for my men, not for their families.”

Sasha was quiet for a long time, nodding slowly. “You think I would disapprove?” she asked softly.

“Wouldn’t you?”

Again, she was quiet for a long moment before meeting his eyes, “I never told you about Mindoir, did I? I mean, I told you my family died in that attack, but I never told you specifics about that day, right?”

Garrus nodded, staying quiet.

**_(Author’s Note: Trigger warning starts here, folks. Please proceed with caution.)_ **

Sasha’s expression changed, and her arms wrapped around the back of his neck as her face went distant, remembering, “It started out like any other day. We were farmers－we grew corn, mostly, but we also had some livestock. Anyway, I’d had a fight with my mother that morning. She didn’t like the way I did a chore, or something, and then that turned into a shouting match that ended up with me running off to see the guy neither of my parents approved of.” She looked down, “I was off with him when the batarians showed up.

“There was a big hill－not really a mountain, but definitely high up－and we could see ships coming in. At first we thought they were cargo ships… but then we heard the screaming start, and the flashes of gunfire.

“My boyfriend took my hand and tried to lead us to the security station, but as we were running he got hit with a stray shot.” Sasha’s expression was still unreadable, and she shook her head, “I just remember him letting go of my hand… and how the left side of my face suddenly felt warm… and wet.”

Garrus’ eyes went wide as he listened, and he didn’t dare interrupt her. Instead, he gently held her wrist as she touched his chest.

“He was just gone,” she said, shrugging. “So I got on my hands and knees and stayed low, trying to find my way back to my family’s farm. Where we were headed wasn’t far from my home, and I knew I could make it if I just took my time. There were some places I had to play dead to avoid being noticed, but I made it home…” Her eyes filled with tears, “I’m the oldest child in my family, the oldest of three.” She took a deep breath, and Garrus could feel her shaking, “I was still crawling on all-fours when I touched a hand… my _two year old_ brother’s hand. He’d fallen from my father’s arms, just behind him. He liked to play out in the grass, out in the sun, and I guess my dad was trying to save him when the attack happened. That’s what I gathered from the photos I saw later. I was too shocked to process anything at the time.

“I remember wanting to scream, but I still didn’t want to be found by the batarians. The door to our home was wide open, and I could see the beginning of my sister’s shoe. I knew she was dead too before I ever got close. She’d been trying to go after my dad－again, from what I could see in the photos later. She was twelve.” Sasha swallowed, going on, “I went inside, and immediately I was grabbed, but a hand covered my mouth－it was my mother. She begged me to be quiet, and she led me to their bedroom, hiding me under the bed.” She closed her eyes, “I tried to tell her I was sorry, that our fight was stupid, and that I’d do better－but she just shushed me and squeezed my hand tight before leaving me there.

“There was a fancy knife on the floor she picked up－something I later learned was a kind of batarian ceremonial knife－and she left the room with it, shutting the door behind her. Someone was still in the house, I think, from the way she was acting. I was quiet, and I laid there under the bed for a few minutes… and then I heard a struggle.” Sasha took a deep breath, “A batarian threw my mother through the door and into the room I was hiding in. He was cursing her－she’d slashed him across the face with the knife.

“But he got it away from her, and from the way he spoke, I could tell he had it at her throat. She was kicking and spitting, screaming. He just laughed. He laughed and laughed, and then started saying the most obscene things… things I still have nightmares about from time to time.” Sasha’s golden eyes met Garrus’, and the next words she spoke chilled him.

“And then he raped her. She fought him the whole time, but he raped her… for forty minutes. And I knew it was forty minutes because my dad’s alarm clock was knocked to the floor next to me－it was an antique Earth-designed clock. I’d given it to him for Father’s Day...” She was shaking, “The batarian raped her until she stopped moving… he raped her _to death._ And I… I was… I just had to lie there _listening.”_

Garrus had no idea what to say, “Sasha…”

She went on, seemingly unable to hear him, “One of the other pirates found them like that and pulled him off her－called him Dresin. The other batarian, the one that found them, was horrified… he called him sick, said they weren’t here for that. Dresin spat at him, dropping the knife and saying my mother had cut his face, that she deserved it… They exchanged a few more words and then the other batarian shoved Dresin out of the room, saying they had to get out of here before the military showed up. They left, and I just waited, watching my mother’s blood soak through the mattress… it took days to get the blood out of my hair.

“A pair of soldiers came in next and searched my house, and when they got to the bedroom and saw my mother, one of them vomited. That’s when I started crying. They found me and helped me get out from under the bed, shielding me from whatever they’d seen. They took me to an Alliance ship and got me cleaned up, but they never searched me… so they never found the knife…”

“You took it?” Garrus asked, surprised.

Sasha nodded, “Yeah. I didn’t know why at the time. I just… kept it. I cleaned it, learned how to sharpen it. As time went by… I realised I had a reason.” She went on, “I joined the Alliance soon after that. They trained me and cared for me－I got into the N7 program. I was the best of the best.” She looked at Garrus, “Then I got shore leave.”

He nodded, “You got shore leave…”

“See, I obsessed over finding this Dresin guy. Turns out, it’s not that common of a name in batarian space, and a few simple searches on the extranet let me pull up his mugshots－every time he’d been arrested since the Mindoir attack. He was easy enough to recognize－my mother had cut him good. So I tracked his movements almost down to the minute by the time I got shore leave, and I knew where he’d be,” she said. “He was going to be on a small space station near the Krogan DMZ－it was like a mini version of Omega: a couple of small clubs, illegal gambling, and one huge brothel.

“So I went,” she said simply. “I watched and waited for him to book time with one of the workers at the brothel, and I paid her off to let me in the room with him.

“I’d had combat medicine training by this point, I had biotic training as well… and I had that knife－I was ready for him.” She took another deep breath, her eyes far away again, remembering, “I locked the door behind me, encrypted it so we wouldn’t be disturbed. He sat in a chair with his back to me. I came up behind him and pretended to massage his shoulders… then I stabbed him with a syringe. It was filled with a toxin that would leave him paralyzed, but he could feel everything I would do to him…”

Sasha laughed softly, “Now, I look a lot like my mother－it’s pretty uncanny how much she and I favored each other－and when I came around the side of Dresin’s chair and he saw me, the look in his eyes was priceless. Like he’d seen a ghost.

“‘Do I look familiar?’ I asked him. I showed him the knife and said, ‘Does this?’ Oh, if he could have screamed, he would’ve… I told him who I was and _where_ I was when he did what he did… and then I pulled out a datapad, propped it up for him to see... and I set a timer on it for forty minutes,” she said darkly. Letting out a breath, she slowly shook her head, “In my obsessive searches, I also learned all I could about batarian anatomy－and I inflicted… every _single_ horror on this man, _every single_ violation I could think of－for _every single minute_ of that timer.” She looked at Garrus, “And I _loved_ it. When the timer beeped, I stabbed the knife in the middle of the scar my mother gave him, and then I just left－washed my hands of the whole thing and returned to Alliance space.”

**_(Author’s Note: End of trigger warning section.)_ **

Garrus let out a shuddering breath, “Sasha… I…” He cupped her cheeks, looking into her golden eyes with wonder and shock.

Sasha brought her hands to his wrists, her face serious, “I know I told you a long time ago to be careful of becoming reckless in doing the right thing－and that’s true.... But when it comes to revenge… _real_ revenge－as long as one waits for an opportunity and prepares accordingly in the meantime－it cannot be ignored. That feeling needs to be faced head-on, not only to see if it’s something one really wants, but if one is capable of it in the first place.” 

She smiled down at him, “You asked me if I would disapprove… Garrus, my darling, if you really want that bastard dead－he dies－and I’ll do _everything_ I can to help you get it done. I promise.”

Garrus murmured softly and kissed her, reaching to crush her into his body. She kissed him back fiercely, and when he tasted her tongue, he moaned. His talons went up her back, feeling the thin shirt she wore, and the bra beneath it. He ripped it open greedily, and Sasha quickly snatched it off her body for him to see her.

He loved Sasha’s body. Every inch of it. Garrus had never considered himself a human fetishist (though there were plenty of turians that were), but he couldn’t deny that Sasha was stunning. She was so _different_ from him. Her skin was smooth and squeezable, and the warmth it radiated was addicting to him. He loved sleeping next to her because she was so naturally hot. He liked looking at her curvy waist and hips, but he found he loved her breasts most (save for her beautiful hair that always stopped him in his tracks when she let it down). It was where she liked to be touched－her nipples were sensitive, and the breasts themselves filled his hands so perfectly that it was so satisfying to squeeze them.

That’s where his hands went first, and he hummed agreeably as he felt they were just as weighty and soft as he remembered. Sasha tilted her head back, letting him feel all he wanted. His tongue came to flick over her hard nipples and she gasped, holding his head in place. Her skin tasted sweet and tropical, and Garrus murmured against her nipple, taking a long lick to tease her.

“Mmn, Garrus please,” Sasha whispered, rolling her hips onto his lap. “Don’t start something you can’t finish. Are you able to…? I mean, after what happened?”

He chuckled and picked her up, “Let’s find out.” When he let her settle in his arms, her rounded backside touched the erection he didn’t realize he’d had in his pants. “Mm, does it feel like I’m not able?”

Sasha smiled, biting her lip as she touched his scarred cheek, “It’s definitely a good sign… Let’s just take it slow, baby. I don’t want you pushing yourself.”

“We’ll go slow, sunshine,” he promised her, giving her a tender kiss. “If it comes down to it, you can be on top－you know how I love that.”

“I do,” she said lustfully. “C’mon, baby… show me how much you missed me.”

**S S S S S S S S**

Garrus gently plopped her on the foot of her bed, and he hooked his talons into the waistband of her panties as well as her leggings, slipping them off her in one motion. Shepard loved the way he looked at her when she was naked. He seemed so fascinated by her body, and she liked watching his eyes dart all over her exposed skin. They’d had sex many times since that day (and night, technically) on the Normandy, but even still, Garrus always seemed to look at her like it was the first time. It made her feel sexy, desired.

She playfully got to her knees on the mattress, taking the clip out of her hair. It was always his favorite part, she knew. Garrus loved her hair. When it came tumbling down her back, she heard him let out a breath.

“You’re just as beautiful as the last time I saw you,” he murmured, gently touching a lock of her hair. He twirled it around his talon.

Shepard smiled, a little unsure. She touched one of the glowing cybernetic scars on her face. “Even with this?” she asked. It was a bit jarring when she first saw her face after she woke up, seeing the small lines of glowing orange just under her skin. Dr. Chakwas had assured her they would fade with time if she kept herself calm, but she just didn’t see how that was possible with Cerberus in her life.

Garrus ran his other hand over the side of her face, gently tickling her, “Even with this. Truth be told, Sasha… you always looked like you were glowing to me.”

She flushed slightly, feeling genuinely flattered by that. “O-Oh…”

He chuckled, “Besides, I should have some scars coming in after awhile as well. We can match.”

Shepard smiled up at him, reaching up to his face, “Scars are sexy on men, babe. I can’t wait.” He leaned down a bit so she could kiss him, and then she went for his pants. She’d removed all of his armor and the top of his undersuit, so only his pants remained. Carefully, she rolled them down his legs, mindful of his spurs, and then he lifted his feet out of them. 

Once he was fully naked before her, she wrapped her hands around his ridged cock, gazing at it like a meal she was ready to devour whole. She’d missed it. She’d _dreamed_ about it. He was so big she needed two hands to encircle it. The sight of him made her wet. Unable to take it any longer, she leaned forward and licked all around the tip.

Garrus hissed, “S-Sasha, honey, I d-don’t think… It’s been s-so long, I…” Her mouth sucked the head of it in, making him yelp in surprise. He sighed, “Spirits, Sasha, I won’t last…”

He’d told her turians weren’t exactly capable of oral sex, especially on males. The first time she ever tried to do it for him, he came so hard and so fast that she’d almost choked on his sweet, black, gel-like semen. Shepard had loved it, though－and so had he. She loved seeing the absolutely stunned expression on his face when he recovered that first time. _“I’ll get better,”_ he’d told her. _“We are definitely trying that again.”_

She lovingly sucked the tip of his cock before coming off with a gentle _pop,_ “You want me to stop, then?”

He let out a shaky breath, cupping her cheek as he shook his head, “Spirits, no… but it’s been so long… I just want _you_ right now, sunshine. Just you.”

“Then get over here, big guy,” Shepard told him with a flirty smile.

Garrus eagerly urged her up the bed, looming over her with his large body. She opened her legs, letting him come between them as she finally settled at the pillows. He sighed again, looking her up and down, “Come here…” His mouth kissed hers, and he gently pushed himself against her mound. Slowly, he filled her and Shepard had to break their kiss to gasp out loud.

“Oh my god… Garrus…”

He nibbled at her neck, his breath hot on her skin, “Is it okay for me to move? Spirits… you’re so wet…”

Shepard nodded quickly, “God yes… I want you, baby－give it to me…”

Garrus moaned－he loved it when she said that－and he sped up, his thick cock filling her completely. She felt herself open up for him, and her legs wrapped around his waist. His hand came to her thigh, talons tight around it as he began to pant, “Sasha… Spirits, I missed you…”

“I missed you too,” she gasped, rolling her hips into him. She looked at his face, and she saw his eyes squeezing shut, almost in pain. She kissed his cheek, “Let me get on top, darling.” Without waiting for a response, she used her muscular thighs to flip them over.

Garrus let out a startled gasp, but quickly took hold of her hips and stared up at her. “Oh yes,” he breathed. “Ride me, honey.”

Shepard began to roll her hips sensually, softly crying out his she took in all of his rippled cock, stirring it around her sensitive walls before bouncing on him. He held her hips tight, and she could feel his eyes watching her every move. His talons came around her backside, clutching her ass in his hands.

She went hard on him, showing just how much she missed being with him. His hands were all over her, and when they found her breasts again, she tossed her head back with a loud moan. His rough fingers teased her sensitive nipples, and that alone drove her crazy with pleasure. Garrus’ cock was a different story: she worked her hips on it, worshipping it. She felt her walls grip him tight, and her wetness spilled down her thighs and over his lap.

Garrus was watching her, daggering himself up inside her. “Sasha… I-I’m… Spirits, I’m going to cum,” he gasped.

Shepard slammed herself down on him as fast as she could, their bodies loudly clapping together in her cabin, “Do it－I want it!” Her pleasure was climbing too, coiling tighter and tighter.

It happened at the same time for both of them, the sensation so strong it made Garrus sit up off the bed to hold her as he came inside her. She loved the feeling－there was always so much of his seed, and it was warm and thick. It made her shiver. Her own walls fluttered around his twitching length, and she threw her arms around his neck, her mouth open in a silent scream. Pleasure hummed throughout her body, throbbing and intense.

Shepard pressed her forehead to his, but Garrus quickly seized a kiss, his talons sliding into her hair. They were trembling when they parted, breathless and dazed. “Spirits… I needed that,” Garrus panted.

She grinned, laughing softly, “Me too.”

They fell into the bed, side by side, and held each other under the covers until sleep claimed them.

**G G G G G G G G**

**Several months later, after the Omega-4 Mission**

The MPs came aboard the ship with purpose, serious and unblinking as they passed the crew of the SR-2. They were docked at the Citadel to resupply the ship, and the Alliance had sent communication that they would like to speak with Shepard personally once the Normandy arrived. Garrus had a bad feeling about the situation, and made a point to be present when the Alliance came aboard, watching suspiciously as the soldiers stopped in a straight line before Sasha in the CIC.

“Where’s Admiral Hackett?” she asked them, her eyes running up and down the line of soldiers. There were a half-dozen of them, all in freshly-starched uniforms.

One of them spoke, “Commander Shepard, we have been ordered by the admiral to place you under arrest.”

“What?!” Both Garrus and Sasha shouted in unison. Yeoman Chambers, Miranda, and several of the CIC crewmen looked outraged as well.

“What are the charges?” Sasha asked angrily.

The same MP spoke, “Affiliating with Cerberus, an outlawed organization, as well as being in possession of an illegally manufactured ship based on top-secret Alliance Navy designs. You are to hereby be stripped of your title, escorted off the premises, and put under observation once we arrive on Earth. Your crew will be disbanded and your ship confiscated. Refusal of any of these terms will result in further charges against your name.”

“This is completely unnecessary,” Garrus said, appalled. “You can’t be serious.” He took a step in front of Sasha. “She’s done nothing wrong! You cannot take her like this, it’s－”

Sasha’s hand touched his arm, and she looked up to him, “I don’t want to get you or anyone else involved in any conflicts with the Alliance.” Her golden eyes were sad, but she didn’t cry, “I have to go with them. Get everyone far away from here－you’re the only one I trust to do that.”

“Sasha,” Garrus breathed, turning to her. “No…”

“It’s okay,” she told him sadly. “It’s gotta be.”

He touched his hand to her face, “I’ll find you, sunshine.”

“I know you will,” Sasha told him, smiling gently. The MPs came up behind her and cuffed her hands behind her back with a set of omni-cuffs.

Garrus snorted at them in disgust, “Really? You’re cuffing her, too.” He shook his head, his eyes glaring at every single MP, “How dare you? You shame her. You shame _yourselves.”_

The one who’d put the cuffs on her shrugged, but looked a bit remorseful, “Orders are orders, sir.”

Garrus scoffed, “Yeah… I know that all too well－but I had the sense to walk away from that life.”

“Garrus.”

Her voice stopped him, and he looked back at her. “I love you,” he murmured softly.

“I love you too.”

Garrus watched them march the love of his life out of the ship, shaking his head. It was bad enough she had been forced to work with Cerberus, but to then be arrested by her own people… He would never forgive Hackett for this, regardless if Sasha did or not. He’d been ready to dive into Hell for her a third time－they’d been preparing for it, even－but the Alliance had taken that away.

Sighing, he turned to Miranda, “C’mon, let’s do as she said. We have to get everyone out of here.”

**S S S S S S S S**

**Menae, six months later**

Shepard’s eyes frantically searched the turian camp as her team was led to General Corinthus. She’d only been able to communicate with Garrus twice after she’d been arrested. Some of that was due to the fact the Alliance prohibited her from sending or receiving email while she was detained, but also due to the Reapers’ arrival.

The first message she’d sent with James, the lieutenant she currently traveled with and who’d been assigned by the Alliance to guard her cell. He was kind to her, and he definitely didn’t agree that she should be locked away, so Shepard didn’t mind that he was around her so often. Her message had gotten him in trouble, however, and it nearly got him replaced with someone else, so she’d had to find a new way to get in contact with Garrus.

Oddly enough, the solution to that problem had been Miranda. In her efforts to try and win Shepard’s trust, Miranda found a way to briefly talk with her through an encrypted line. The datapad the Alliance had given her while she was detained was severely modified to prevent any lines of communication, but somehow Miranda was able to get through to her one day while Shepard was reading news reports. Eager to hear from anyone outside of her current situation, she listened as Miranda updated her on where the former crewmember’s whereabouts were currently. Then, she offered to send along any communication that Shepard might have written, and that’s when Shepard gave Miranda the long letters she’d written to Garrus during her incarceration (though, it was more of a diary).

Miranda wasn’t able to contact her after that. She’d mentioned the possibility of that happening, due to a situation she’d been handling. Shepard could believe that. Miranda was mysterious, but capable and careful－she had to give her that much.

Still, Shepard wondered if Garrus had received her emails before the Reapers arrived, and if he was still alive. She had to believe. Even as she saw his absence in the turian camp, she had to believe he was still out there, fighting to get to her. But if he wasn’t here… that meant he was on Palaven, and Palaven didn’t look good at all.

They arrived at the shelter where Corinthus was commanding his troops, and she told him they were trying to find Primarch Fedorian at the behest of Councilor Quentius. It was a tough ask, considering the shape Menae was in currently. Shepard ended up having to help them fight off Reaper troops at the barricades of the camp before any news of Fedorian’s position could be found.

Only then, it was discovered his shuttle had been shut down, and now there was an entirely new Primarch they were looking for.

At that point, Shepard was exasperated, and she looked at Corinthus seriously, “I need _someone,_ I don’t care who, as long as they can get us the turian resources we need.”

“I’m on it, Sasha－we’ll find the Primarch together,” a familiar voice said behind Corinthus.

When Garrus came walking up the ramp of the shelter, Shepard met him at the top with a big hug. Their armor scraped against each other, making an awful noise, but they didn’t care. “Garrus,” she said, relief warming her heart.

“Hey there, sunshine,” he murmured warmly. When they parted, she could see his eyes were tired, but filled with genuine happiness at the sight of her, “I got your letters. I tried to write back, so many times－but they all failed to send. Then the Reapers came, and I－”

“I know you tried,” Shepard told him, touching his scarred cheek. It had healed nicely, and she found the pattern of scarred tissue on his face rather… beautiful. “I had hope that you were still out there.”

He pressed his forehead to hers, “And I for you, Sasha. Always.”

**G G G G G G G G**

**Several months later, in a hospital on Earth…**

Garrus waited by her bedside quietly. It had been weeks, but he’d never left her side. _“After this, it’s just you and me,”_ she’d told him the night everyone fought for Earth. He was determined to keep that promise.

“Just you and me,” he sighed, looking at her sleeping body.

Sasha was covered in bruises and artificially-filled wounds. Her leg was broken. They’d found her unconscious on the battlefield after the Reapers crumbled to Earth. The geth had found a way to destroy them without the Crucible targeting their modified Reaper code－and that included EDI. It was a relief, both to Sasha and Garrus.

Whatever she’d had to do in the Citadel Control Center had gone off without a hitch, but going back through the beam to get to Earth must have taken a toll on her body. What little remained of her white armor wasn’t white anymore when they found her－it was black with ash and red with blood. Much of her cybernetics were exposed, the orange glow flickering dangerously. It was a geth unit that found her, and they quickly were able to keep the power stable for the implants in her body before they brought her to the hospital.

It was unclear if she’d wake up, but they’d stabilized her for now. Her brain activity was high, and Garrus chose to take that as a good sign.

His father and sister were safe, and they were back on Palaven assessing the damage to their home. Apparently, it was one of the few places that didn’t completely burn to the ground, despite the giant blaze of orange he’d pointed out on his homeworld when he and Sasha met on Menae. Garrus didn’t know if he’d go back home, however－he wanted to be as far away from any of his people’s politics and the demands of the Alliance if Sasha ever woke up.

But he had to believe she would. Just as she had believed in him all those months.

Visitors had come and gone the first few days at the hospital. Tali was first, and she’d been so overcome with emotion at the sight of Sasha that Garrus had to keep her from falling to the ground. The young quarian felt so guilty for wanting to sacrifice the geth on Rannoch, but they’d been the ones that saved Sasha’s life in the end. _“Keelah… if she’d listened to me, s-she… I-It would have been all my fault,”_ Tali sobbed.

James came next. At first, Garrus really didn’t know what to make of him. He certainly didn’t like the way he flirted with Sasha, but then he soon realized he was like that with every woman he came across－especially when Ashley joined the team again. Once Williams came back aboard the Normandy, he only ever flirted with her. But when James came to visit Sasha in those first few days at the hospital, all he could do was sigh sadly. He sat with Garrus the longest out of everyone, quiet and pensive.

Ashley, Liara, and Wrex all visited as well, each murmuring words of comfort and encouragement to Sasha before leaving. Wrex surprised Garrus the most, he never seemed one to be soft with anyone, but Sasha had done so much for the krogan and for Wrex himself.

Even the geth came by to visit－not only that, but they were very respectful of the visiting rules of the hospital, so they uploaded as many geth programs as possible into a single platform. There was no telling how many thousands of the AIs had come to see Sasha as she rested, offering to do whatever they could to help her doctors.

But now, weeks later, Garrus sat in the hospital alone. He slept here, he ate here, he spoke with his family here－all in the hope that she would wake.

What he did not expect, however, was that she would wake so violently.

Sasha woke with a panicked gasp, so loud and sudden that the surprise made him jolt out of his chair. Garrus caught himself before he hit the floor, and quickly recovered to try and calm her.

Her breaths were sharp and shallow, her golden eyes fearfully looking about the room as she struggled in bed, “W-Where am I?” She grunted when she felt her broken leg, and hissed when it twisted from her movements.

“Shhh,” Garrus said softly, “Sasha, honey－you’re in the hospital. It’s okay…” He touched her arm, gently running his talons up and down her skin. “You’re okay.”

Sasha’s breaths were still short, but she stilled herself and her eyes darted to his, fearful, “T-The Reapers… did th－”

“They’re gone, Sasha,” he told her, nodding fervently. “It’s okay. It’s over, honey. It’s all over.”

“It’s over…?” she asked, her voice a soft squeak. Her lip trembled, and her eyes overflowed with tears. “It’s over…”

Garrus nodded, leaning over her as she started to cry, “Yes, honey. You did so good. You did it.” Sasha reached for him, hugging him tight as she became overcome with the joy and devastation and exhaustion of it all, sobbing into his shoulder. Garrus wrapped his arms around her as best he could, nuzzling her neck. “I love you so much,” he whispered to her.

Sasha just cried, locking her arms around him. “I did it,” she kept saying over and over. “I actually did it.”

They spend the next few minutes like that, and Garrus just let her release all that emotion, petting her hair and nuzzling her cheek. He whispered to her, silly and sweet things that made her smile. His heart was full－fuller than it ever had been－because Sasha returned to him once again.

**S S S S S S S S**

**Eight months later, on a beach somewhere in Hawaii**

Shepard hummed agreeably as she sank her toes into the white sand, loving the warmth of the sunlight on her skin. She was tanned again after being in the hospital for so many months, and wearing a golden-yellow bikini. It took a long time for her body to heal after the war ended, but once her leg was better and she could walk around, the first thing she did was turn to Garrus and say, _“Let’s get the fuck out of here.”_

Of course, he agreed. She told the Alliance, and they discharged her with the highest of honors－Garrus did the same with the turian military－after that, they set off on their own adventure. Hawaii was their first stop, and they didn’t know where they would go next, but this was great for now. They’d found a private and luxury home to rent for the foreseeable future, with its own cave to explore. It was beautiful: there was a natural skylight that let in light over the small spring inside, water tumbling into the pool over the edge of the skylight in a glittering shower.

She bit her lip when she remembered the way Garrus stripped her of her clothes and pressed her up against one of the cave’s rocky walls deep within. He ravished her from behind, their moans and flesh echoing loudly all around them. It was the first time they’d had sex since she was fully-healed, and goddamn if it wasn’t the best time yet.

Garrus came walking towards her with an outrageous-looking blue cocktail in his hand, offering it to her when he sat beside her on their beach blanket, “You look so gorgeous in the sun, my dear.”

Shepard grinned sitting up and giving her drink a little stir before sipping it flirtily through the straw, “Mmm, I was just thinking about the cave.”

His electric blue eyes narrowed mischievously, “We can give it another visit, if you like.”

She leaned over to kiss him, but kept her mouth close when she parted, “Or maybe you can just fuck me right here.”

Garrus ran a single talon up her throat to her jawline, “Here? Out in the open? My, my, my－you’re a naughty little thing.”

“It’s our beach,” she said with a little shrug. “There’s no one around…” She kissed her way to his ear, “I want you to fuck me in the sand… and hear the ocean pounding behind us.”

Garrus shivered and gave a slight nod. She pushed her drink down in the sand to keep it still, and then turned back to him, untying the strings on her bikini bottoms. They were careful not to kick up any sand onto the blanket as they got themselves into position, and when Garrus shoved himself inside her she threw her head back with a sexy moan. She’d been in a constant state of arousal since they’d arrived (and especially after the cave moment), so it was easy for him to slip in her.

It was rough and dirty and sweet, her nails scraping his hard, metallic skin as she took every inch of him. His hips pounded rhythmically with the ocean, speeding up as she got wetter and wetter for him, licking at her pulse with his tongue in a way that made her quiver. The moment came quickly for the both of them, and she screamed out into the open air as Garrus’ hips stuttered into hers, spilling his warmth inside her.

They were winded but kissed each other tenderly, ecstatic to be alone－truly alone－and unbothered for the first time in years. 

Peace had finally crept its way into Sasha’s heart, and her worries melted away in the comfort of Garrus’ arms around her in the sunlight.

**S S S S S S S S**

_Alright! I hope y’all enjoyed this!_

_As with Stardust, there might be more one-shots with this Shepard in the future because there’s definitely room for it like my other story, but that may be a while down the road._

_In the meantime, let me know what you thought about this one, and I hope you guys are staying healthy, safe, and clean!_

_With love,_

_Glacier_


End file.
